Never Alone
by Nemesis13
Summary: Lady Marianne and Princess Nunnally are dead, before Lelouch is cast off on his own he is taken under the care of his favored older sister Cornelia with the blessing of their father. With his sister Euphemia and best friend Suzaku at his side Lelouch embraces his heritage to change the Empire from within, and he really doesn't care if the nobility approves of his actions or not.
1. Chapter 1

**Greetings and welcome to the re-imagining of one of my earlier and now quite abandoned stories! So long story made short I began the original telling of this fic right after my marriage imploded, suffice it to say I was drunk for about six months straight. This story suffered greatly from that and I wanted to make it...better, so here is what to expect in this rewrite-**

 **Lelouch x Kallen, Suzaku x Euphemia, Cornelia x Naoto (you read that right) and the lot of them being one happy if highly dysfunctional family. While this story starts at Pendragon it will eventually shift to a very different Japan from canon and eventually it will lead to Lelouch and company journeying to Euro-Britannia.**

 **While I detest editing old work (especially old work I find embarrassing nearly two years after I wrote it) I can luckily say this is going to take significantly less work to get off the ground then the other rewrite I'm in the midst of. Mostly because it's only the last chapter or three that I intend to axe, 'Another Day in the Life of Potter' has had something like 25k words chopped out of it and is a monumental pain in the ass to bring back to life.**

 **Right, rambling, anyway here we go, please enjoy and as always drop a review, I'm quite open to creative criticism.**

* * *

 **Imperial Capital of Pendragon, Duchy of Arizona, 2009 A.T.B.**

"Fitting, even a land known for being dry and desolate weeps for the passing of Lady Marianne," Cornelia Li Britannia mused to herself as sheets of heavy rain fell upon the reinforced glass of the hospital waiting room windows. The Capitol of the Holy Empire of Britannia lay in the northeastern reaches of the Sonoran desert near the Salt and Gila rivers, despite the subtropical environment mankind's stubbornness prevailed irrigating the area to create a lush oasis in the wastes. But some days the works of man made no difference to the rage of Mother Nature, and Pendragon drowned in her tears. Cornelia glanced at her own reflection as she rubbed her eyes warily going over the day's events.

Lady Marianne and Princess Nunnally vi Britannia had been shot by terrorists, her Lady...her charge and mentor was killed instantly and young Nunnally didn't fare any better. Armor piercing rounds had bore through her mother and tore her young body apart in a spray of high velocity shrapnel. She was currently in surgery and the doctors held little hope that she would survive the night, the injuries to her spine, liver, and kidneys doing the child little favor. The thought of her cheerful little sister following the fate of her mother sent a wave of nausea through the normally stoic Captain of the Guard.

Glancing over to her younger half-brother the woman's expression softened as she watched him console Euphemia's sobbing form, the little girl distracting Lelouch from his own turmoil at least for the moment. Looking up he met her eyes and Cornelia was taken aback by the dullness in the normally vibrant amethyst gaze.

"Nelly...why did you let her die?" he asked dejectedly. There was no accusation, no bitterness, just a worn down child who was about to lose everything. Composing herself she walked over to her siblings and knelt before them resting her forehead against the boy's.

"I would never have let my Lady die, I'd have gladly given my life up for the one who showed me a woman was not simply constrained to being what society demanded... I... I probably shouldn't tell you this but she ordered the guards off a few hours beforehand. I argued of course, respect or no she was my charge but...your mother was a stubborn one, she gave me the signed orders and asked that the security systems be deactivated as well."

As she was saying this she straightened her back and handed a tear stained envelope to her half-brother who shifted the now sleeping Euphie aside to shakily take the document. Cornelia felt her heart ache as he read the letter, his eyes watered and lower lip trembled before he let out a single loud sob.

"Why...why would she do this!? You were there for her protection not as ornamentation! Wait..." his young face contorted into a thoughtful expression before he managed to school his features back to normal. "Of course, she trusted whoever she was meeting and it ended up being misplaced...that's it isn't it?"

Sighing Cornelia reclaimed the envelope and paper, putting them away as she stood and began pacing. "That is all I can figure out myself, the idea of terrorists pulling this off in the Imperial Palace is just...laughable at best, all four assault carbines were found on the lawn where they had been fired, no prints and the serial numbers are all from the national guard armory signed out as of yesterday. Before you ask the master at arms was found in the barracks shot in the head and all security footage is missing, this of course means-"

Interrupting her Lelouch continued the thought, "Means that it was an inside job and they didn't particularly care if the trail led to the high courts..." Nodding sadly she sat beside her half-brother and wrapped an arm around his slim shoulders.

"About right little one, as things stand I'm not sure what can be done, the Emperor himself ordered the investigation cancelled which is odd on it's own, it was well known that your mother was his favored consort." The boy stiffened at that meeting her concerned gaze, his formally dull gaze now burned with fires of rage as he began to seethe.

"That bastard! How dare he ignore what happened to my mother and Nunnally! I'll confront the heartless monster myself and find out what is-" His declaration was cut off as a sweat stained surgeon entered the room hanging his head despondently.

"Your Highness...I...I regret to inform you we could not save Princess Nunnally, the damage to her organs and the blood loss was too extensive, I'm so sorry." Cornelia's shoulders slumped as she looked down at Lelouch whose eyes had widened to the size of saucers, as those shocked orbs rolled into the back of his skull Cornelia barely caught the boy as he fell from his seat. That night Lelouch vi Britannia's entire world collapsed and changed his path forever, and while one door closed, another had opened, and his half-sister was determined to make sure he knew it.

* * *

Lelouch awoke from a dreamless sleep in an unfamiliar bed, the sheets were fine silk and smelled faintly of lilacs. Glancing about his sun lit surroundings he could not help but smirk upon seeing the Darth Vader poster on the far wall, so he was in Cornelia's room then. Sitting up groggily he began rubbing his sleep encrusted eyes when he remembered the previous day's events, his family was dead and he was left alone.

Gripping his blanket in white knuckled fists he painfully clenched his teeth as he screwed his eyes shut, the young boy trying his best to keep his tears in check. He would never admit to it later on that he failed and sobbed inconsolably for a time. Eventually the door to the bedroom cracked open and his elder sister walked in holding a tray, placing the plate of toast and eggs on the sideboard next to a glass of juice she put the tray aside and sat next to the grief stricken child.

Placing a hand on his shoulder she found herself in an abrupt death grip hug as the boy wailed into her side, the cries muffled by her uniform coat. Sighing she began stroking his hair until the wracking sobs slowed. She didn't say anything as she did this since neither sibling believed in pointless platitudes, it was one of the many reasons they got along after all.

As he eventually calmed and sat up his half sister gave him a warm smile as she placed the plate of food in his lap and jammed a fork in his hand, "I know the last thing you need right now is someone dictating to you but please eat something. You've had nothing for over 24 hours so for my own sanity try and get something in your stomach, ok?"

Blurry eyes looked at her a moment before he sighed and nodded, he ate the light breakfast with little enthusiasm but being that the boy despised wasting time even when aggrieved he finished it quickly enough.

Downing the glass of offered juice he sat in silence for a few minutes before stirring, "I...Nelly what do I do? I'm all alone, my mother's enemies will be after me and it is fairly obvious I've lost father's protection, if we ever had it...I...what do-?"

He was interrupted as Cornelia hugged him gently resting her chin on his head, "For being so smart little brother you're being awfully stupid. You'll never be alone, you have myself and Euphemia and while we need father's permission I'd be honored to take charge of your well being, if you wish for it that is."

Sighing and feeling a small fragment of hope he contemplated the idea for a moment, he could rush into the throne room and demand the Emperor act like a husband and a father or...or he could solidify a path for himself. His mother's protection was gone and she made many enemies on her rise to glory, crunching the numbers he was fairly certain he'd be dead within the next six months without aid, but Cornelia... Well the nobility was terrified of her and she loved him dearly, there were worse fates then being beneath the aegis of a goddess of war.

Shifting out of her grip he smiled lightly while nodding, "Ok...I suppose I should request an audience then...this ought to be interesting."

* * *

As the massive doors to the Royal Throne Room swung open Lelouch couldn't help but gulp a bit. Here it was, time to either sink or swim. As he plodded down the stairs and down the crimson carpet leading to the throne he did his best to ignore the snickering visages of the collected nobles.

His hatred for the the "elite" of the Empire knew no bounds. They labeled him the 'Pauper Prince' since his birth and it was obvious they were expecting a spectacle from him, if only they knew. As he approached the man who styled himself his father's throne Lelouch came to a stop and knelt staring up at the regal figure, Emperor Charles zi Britinnia's gaze did not falter in the slightest in the heat of his child's hate filled gaze.

"Your Royal Majesty, my Mother the Empress Marianne and my sister Princess Nunnally are dead," Lelouch stated with no inflection in his voice whatsoever, his eyes going dull realizing the truth of the statement.

His father for his part just stared down at the kneeling child and scoffed lightly, "Why are you bothering me with this old information, you dare waste my time like this boy? Send in the next one."

Despite the desire to rush up the stairs and tear the man's throat out with his teeth Lelouch stayed composed and made a request, "Your Majesty, father... this was not the reason I have approached you, rather it is the prelude to my request if you would hear me."

Quirking a single brow Charles nodded to the child who stood and returned the gesture. "My mother and sister were obviously murdered by a member of the high courts else wise you would not have seen it fit to cancel the investigation, I am aware that this is simply politics despite how much it makes my blood burn with rage. Since I am left on my own with nothing to protect me I have a request, put me under the care of my half-sister Cornelia li Britannia so I might learn from her and become...useful to you in the future."

Charles glared down at the boy for a moment before cocking his head slightly to the side, "Why would I accept this request, it is clear you do not respect the authority of the courts or even myself, so why bother?"

Going ramrod straight Lelouch could not but help sneering, "Because I fully intend on becoming the most powerful man in Britannia outside of yourself of course your Majesty. When I reach that position I will find the one who killed my family and I will destroy them. That is a vow, one I relish in keeping."

Smirking Charles nodded to his son, "Excellent answer young one, I give my blessing, you are now the ward of Cornelia li Britannia, do not bite off more then you can chew, Lelouch, I have high hopes for you."

Nodding in return the boy replied with, "I have one final request your Majesty, one of dire import to the Empire as a whole, would you will to hear it," the Emperor already impressed by the boys restraint simply gave a faint nod and his son continued. "The Ashford family were supporters and later patrons of my mother the Lady Marianne, currently several other families are attempting to discredit them to claim the military contracts they hold to steal the blueprints for Duke Ruben Ashford's newest creation, the Glasgow Knightmare Frame.

"The Ashfords have been nothing but loyal subjects to the Empire, and allowing them to fall from grace due to vultures taking advantage of the momentary chaos caused by my mother's death is not only unjust but _treason_ against the crown. My request is simple, do not let the Ashfords be pulled down due to a situation outside of their control, and punish the families that are attempting to use the death of my mother and _your_ wife to further their machinations."

Charles remained silent for a time then smirked lightly as he finally replied, "Obviously you care a great deal about this for your own personal interests. Though on that note the Ashford family _has_ been graciously sponsoring the Empires newest engine of war, allowing them to fall would be...foolish. Very well my son, I will put a halt to any further actions against your allies, is there anything else?"

Keeping his gaze neutral Lelouch shook his head in the negative, "No your Majesty you have done more then I could have hoped for, am I dismissed from your presence?" Giving the boy a wave of his hand Lelouch stood and marched past the now quiet nobility, against his better judgment he flashed them a feral grin.

'Soon you fools will realize the wolf amongst the sheep, and as always you'll be too slow to save yourselves.' With that the young predator left his prey behind to learn the art of conquest from his goddess, he could barely restrain the glee he felt at the thought of becoming stronger.

 **Imperial Capital of Pendragon, Duchy of Arizona, 2012 A.T.B**

Twelve year old Lelouch vi Britannia breathed heavily with hands resting on his knees, slightly winded after the six mile run his half sister forced upon him daily. The athletic youth eventually stood up straight and began his cool down stretches as he accepted a bottled sports drink from Cornelia's knight.

"Guilford, I swear my dear sister wants me dead, there is no other reason for this."

Smirking the bespectacled man shrugged lightly while wiping the sweat from his own brow, "My Prince if that were the truth I'd not be able to stop it one way or the other, but if I were to guess the problem may simply be that you're quite possibly the most lazy gifted person any of us have ever met."

Glowering at the ponytailed man who showed no reaction to his rire Lelouch just sighed as he fell on his backside. "Be that as it may I do appreciate the effort Lord Guilford, never confuse my annoyance for lack of gratitude all right? It may have taken a few years but you and General Darlton have made me a hard target for assassins...and I do so love being hard to kill." Accepting the praise Guilford offered his hand to the boy and pulled him to his feet, after Lelouch eventually caught his breath the pair made their way to the recreation center's showers.

"Tomorrow is political studies alongside Euphemia and Knightmare frame piloting with Princess Cornelia, but outside of that you are free, what do you plan on doing?"

Shrugging the raven haired preteen threw a towel around his shoulders scowling lightly, "Honestly I'll probably just hang out around Nelly, since she's likely to become Viceroy of Area Eleven it's best I learn the intrigues of that circle. Ironic really, I always looked at her as the avatar for war yet here she is playing politician...well...albeit a politician with very big guns but still."

Guilford gave the boy a knowing smile while staring forward, "The Princess's views have been tempered by those around her, she is as formidable as ever yet she now has some softness to her, I blame you for this my young Prince."

Lelouch for his part simply smirked, "Yeah, I do that to people, ah well if the nobles find my sister weak they'll soon find out why she was the Captain of my mothers guards as a teenager. Hey Gilly, why don't we get cleaned up and hit the arcade? I know you get a kick out of beating everyone in the Knightmare sims." Pausing his step for a moment then nodding with a smile Guilford accepted the request. The young Prince was right of course, showing up the rabble was awfully amusing.

* * *

Cornelia was less then happy with her current orders, sure she had written up the plans to invade Area Eleven while it was still known as Japan but that meant nothing, especially considering the fact Lelouch had helped. That did not mean she wanted to be VICEROY of the bloody island much less getting saddled with her dimwit dandy of a half brother Clovis as her Deputy.

Hells bells she'd put Lelouch or EUPHIE in that position before him, worst of it was she had _no_ idea who had arranged for the ambitious twit to become her problem. Glaring at the broken seal upon the envelope in her hand she just shook her head in annoyance, it would appear her small family was making an unplanned long term trip, the thought sent a shiver up her spine.

Noticing this Darlton turned to her in question, "Is something wrong Princess?"

Grimacing she handed the letter to the older man as she began pacing around her large office, "Yes, these orders are absolute bullsh...they are foolish. I'm a soldier not a politician, and while the plans we came up with limited civilian casualties and retained much of Area Elevens resources I do not see why it is MY problem to administrate it!"

Shaking his head at his friend and commanders ire he read the letter then placed it on the table, "My Lady you know my view on how the Empire treats numbers. That aside I believe this is an excellent chance to teach young Lelouch and Euphemia the benefits of caution and intrigue, and after all we're stuck with your idiot brother Clovis. If nothing else you and Lelouch can prank the fool as you always do."

Dropping into her plush chair the violet haired woman sighed while rubbing her temples, "I suppose you're right, and with our new governing policies in place it would be a stable home to raise the pair of them, but you know _neither_ will accept the way the Empire treats numbers. They'll demand their pet reforms stay in place if only it is in our assigned Area."

Shrugging lightly the large man smirked, "The only constant in the universe is change Princess, if those two can do it who are we to stop them?"

After staring at the wall for a time Cornelia nodded slowly, "Valid point, all right we'll not fight these orders to head to Area Eleven, who knows it could be fun." Chuckling lightly Darlton left his Lady to give his boys the news, it was time to pack up.

* * *

 _ **The Following Day**_

Cornelia was busying herself with the maintenance of her personal Glasgow as she waited for her half brother to finish his studies with Euphemia. The Princess took great personal pride in babying her own machine and her station rarely gave her the time for it anymore. Gritting her teeth as she pulled back on the torque wrench she was rewarded with a dull clunk as the offending servo finally locked into place.

Grinning victoriously she wiped the sweat from her brow and discarded the tool. Swinging the armor panel back into place she picked up a small ratchet and locked it down, as she finished with the last bolt she heard the unmistakable bubbly laughter of her sister from across the hanger.

Turning away from her crouched war machine Cornelia had to cover her mouth to hide the smile threatening to overtake her face as a very animated Euphemia was chattering away at a forlorn looking Lelouch. Making eye contact with her the boy mouthed "Help Me!" Taking pity on him she met them halfway and gave Euphie a hug that ended her ramblings, shooting Lelouch a knowing smirk he gave her a sardonic bow in thanks.

Breaking the embrace she cocked her hip to the side while crossing her arms. "You're late little brother, don't worry no demerits today I see who is truly responsible for the delay," she quipped in obvious amusement. Lelouch swiped his hand across his forehead while letting out an exaggerated "Whew!"

Rolling her eyes at the antics she turned to Euphemia. "All right young lady now exactly what are you doing in the trainer hanger, other then pestering your poor brother that is?"

Looking a bit pensive the pinkette had her hands held behind the back while toeing the pavement lightly. "Well Cornelia umm...I was kind of hoping you'd allow me to watch Lelouch train today? I'm tired of wasting time on all these etiquette courses when I care very little for them, I want to do something useful like you two." Holding the bridge of her nose she glanced to Lelouch who just shrugged sheepishly, man of few words today it seems.

Sighing she rolled her eyes and said, "Fine fine, but you have to stay on the observation deck. We may be using training rounds but they're still dangerous, Lelouch get set up while I get out of these rags."

Cheering happily Euphie ran to the deck stairs while Lelouch met Cornelia's questioning stare, "She wouldn't stop talking about it the entire day. That little brat Carine put it in her head that she is useless without you around so she's trying to prove that she'll eventually reach your level...its been a vexing afternoon."

Clicking her tongue thoughtfully as she unzipped her baggy jumpsuit she pondered on that before deciding she could understand Euphie's thought process. If the girl could handle being around heavy war machines and keep track of the tactics perhaps she could pilot one some day.

Shrugging out of the drab mechanics outfit she tossed it aside as she straightened her uniform. Nodding she finally replied, "All right...while I'm hesitant to risk her safety I'd be the biggest hypocrite in the world if I denied her the chance to prove herself. If she can keep up with our maneuvers today and is willing to sit through the safety and training tutorials on our way to Area Eleven then I see little reason to not let her try." Nodding Lelouch followed her to the parked KMF's pausing only to catch the ignition FOB tossed to him by one of the technicians.

Turning back to Cornelia he whispered, "We've got a few things to discuss. Firstly Clovis has apparently taken off ahead of us and is already trying to style himself as the Viceroy, the reports on his antics are...concerning." Grimacing the violet haired Princess felt the beginnings of a migraine at that news.

Grabbing the ascension winch she rode it up to the cockpit and lithely hopped into the command seat, sealing the hatch behind her she began the boot up process and brought the dark purple machine to its feet.

Clicking on the radio she opened a comm channel to her half-brothers black and silver frame, "I'm going to truly regret asking this but what exactly did he do and furthermore why the hell is he there before us? Wait... how have you found this out before me anyway?" After a moment a small window popped up on her HUD showing Lelouch adjusting his settings, looking up for a moment he sighed in resignation.

"In answer to the first questions? Clovis's harlot of a mother was in the throne room when _father-"_ Lelouch impressively made the title sound like a curse as he continued, "made the decision. Apparently Clovis had gotten it into his head he was going to be made Viceroy with the news, I do not know why.

"He's already attempted to have the Elevens largest remaining hospital leveled to make an amusement park named, and I kid you not, "Clovis Land." Cornelia's migraine had now taken a life of its own as she maneuvered the Glasgow onto the training field, grabbing one of the paintball rifles from the weapons rack she turned around in time to see Lelouch mirror the action.

Sighing she replied in a deadpan tone, "Clovis Land? Really? Clovis Land?"

Chuckling humorlessly her half-brothers image nodded, "Oh yes indeed. It gets better since big brother Schneizal has been holding the reigns of the Area until a permanent Viceroy was chosen he was able to effectively shut Clovis down, _during_ a rather flamboyant speech discussing the merits of said amusement park. The Elevens were greatly amused." Smirking at that she sighted the rifle in on a few targets down range and popped off a three round burst, bulls eye, naturally.

"And how did you find all this out before me?"

Lelouch gave her one of his rare true smiles as he replied, "Well...remember the informant that pointed us to Genbu Kururugi's location during the invasion while I was masquerading as our ambassadors son? Well he's kind of in the care of Duke Ashford thanks to your's truly, they both have their ears to the ground in different walks of life and well... its amazing how invisible an "Eleven" and an eccentric industrialist _wasting_ his time building a multicultural academy can be. Its good to be owed favors."

With that his smile became just _slightly_ cocky but it vanished quickly as he finished, "That's about it honestly. Something tells me our dear brother is going to keep you on your toes in the near future."

With that she simply grunted "Lovely" and drove her machine into the middle of the urban warfare training area. Opening her factsphere she scanned the combat zone and began clearing the remote controlled tanks as Lelouch ran interference. After a time she asked, "Was there something else Lelouch?" She could see him hesitating before his face hardened in resolve, she was oddly proud of that, he obviously didn't want to discuss this but he didn't back down from it either.

"Well...you're aware that Clovis's actions obviously drew the attention of the nobility, and while Schneizal was oddly accommodating of our experiment the high courts obviously would not be." He sighed now and managed to look dejected as he weaved through the enemy units suppression fire and pulled a rather dramatic spin as he lined his rifle up and cleared the targets.

With that the exercise ended and he gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "Father found out we didn't follow protocol with the Elevens...we've been summoned to his offices this afternoon." Now looking clearly irritated he jettisoned his spent magazine and reloaded the rifle. "As for how I found out before you, well apparently his messengers thought I was your page and handed the orders off to me..." Obviously annoyed at the indignity of his situation she tried not to smirk at this but failed.

Looking directly into her cockpit camera she said, "Well you _are_ technically my protegé so I suppose its admissible...and we knew this was coming the second you talked me into it after the invasion. We'll park our frames and send Euphie off to review our practice then meet father, don't worry little brother I'll keep you safe."

Muttering near unintelligibly about not being little he followed her back to the hangers, sighing as her machine began to shut down the princess created a brief staccato as her head beat against the seat rest, lovely just lovely... An afternoon explaining to father why she didn't commit genocide in his name. Shaking her head as the cockpit slid open she glanced over to Lelouch's machine as he disembarked.

She didn't bother to suppress the warm smile that crawled up her lips as she observed the boy getting tackled by an excited Euphemia. 'Oh well, they're worth it,' she thought fondly as she formulated what she would say to the old codger.

* * *

The Emperor's personal office was a fairly spartan affair compared to his ostentatious throne room. Outside of the desk and a few generic paintings on the walls there was nothing to give indication to the owners mindset, honestly it reminded Lelouch of a hotel lobby more than anything. Approaching the desk in the rooms center both he and his half-sister saluted whilst making the appropriate salutations. Keeping his face clear of emotion he focused solely on his father, immediately going on guard upon seeing the vaguely bemused look in the mans eyes.

After a moment the Emperor began speaking sounding almost bored, "It has come to my attention that you have hidden things from me, or at the very least carefully omitted details. Clovis was quite...vocal on the rather unconventional policies Schneizal has enacted at your behest. While I am rather impressed on how quickly you subjugated Japan you have gone against the established order of things. Our methods are often considered extreme by the weak yet I had not expected the same from the two of you."

Gritting his teeth Lelouch stayed quiet as Cornelia responded, "Your majesty I was unaware taking an entire territory in less than a week with the majority of its infrastructure intact was considered a weakness. Giving the Eleven's the near equal rights to natural Britannian citizens has led to a peaceful transition with limited strain on our own resources. While I had been skeptical of the idea at first the past two years have shown a rather dramatic increase in social stability and sakuradite exportation is already exceeding pre-invasion levels."

Giving a barely perceptible nod to this Charles tapped a few fingers across the desks surface as he countered, "Be that as it may you've set a dangerous precedent for leniency which we simply cannot have. The Empires continued expansion is based on the principles of social Darwinism and it is the key to our eventual victory, the rabble must bow down to their betters."

No longer capable of keeping his tongue Lelouch snapped out, "Father must you keep up the facade of actually believing in such tripe? It is obvious you use the principles of 'survival of the strongest' as a platform to engage the masses and it has little other use. If you had actually been a follower of social Darwinism you would have never lowered yourself to wedding my lady mother, a simple commoner."

Both adults were dumbstruck at the bold statement and after a moment Cornelia covered her face with her palm fully prepared for the worst as their stone faced father stared her younger brother down, the eventual response was unexpected.

Smirking ever so slightly the old man let out an amused snort as he relaxed in his chair, "You know my son, in the fifteen years I'd been associated with your mother not one person has had the gall to point out that little nugget of hypocrisy to me. I'm unsure if it was foolishness, anger, or honest indignation that compelled you to bring it up but I do respect you for it." With that Cornelia glanced over the top of her hand in surprise and let out a sigh of relief vocalizing Lelouch's feelings.

After another moment of silence the Emperor began speaking again, "Since I am to make Area Eleven your sisters problem for the foreseeable future I will allow your little...social experiment to stand, but I warn you don't take this as a sign of approval. I give you a length of rope, it is up to you whether it will aid or hang you." Nodding silently Lelouch exchanged a glance with Cornelia, after a moment she looked resigned and shrugged.

Taking that as approval he went all in as it were, "Father I have a suggestion that I believe would greatly benefit the Empire as a whole and not just my sisters new assignment, if you are willing to hear it."

Charles arched an eyebrow at that while quipping, "My this sounds familiar, very well lets hear it."

Collecting his thoughts Lelouch mulled the best way to word his request for a moment before continuing, "As you are aware the Empire is a massive entity and our citizens have spread far and wide. Many have established families with foreigners across the globe and in the past this meant next to nothing but with our current policy of conquest, well..."

Meeting the Emperor's eyes Lelouch gave his father a grim smile, "Well... these loved ones become nothing but Numbers, and within the nobility itself they are forced to divorce their spouses by their families to keep up appearances. I suggest a very simple law, allow those that marry Britannians to become citizens, if fear of exploitation is an issue make a requirement that they be married for a set amount of years just...please...don't force families apart when there is no rational reason to do so..." With that last statement Lelouch was well aware that he sounded like the child he was. Shifting his gaze from his father to his feet he waited on the response.

"Lelouch...why do you find this to be important? Do not insult my intelligence I know why on an emotional level, I am discussing how this benefits the Empire."

Without missing a beat the young prince met his fathers eyes once again, "Its simple really, familial lines bind the nobility together, be it by love, contract, or convenience family is what keeps our nation whole. Forcing families apart because one partner is a citizen of a nation we conquered is just...asinine."

Smirking once again Charles nodded at the boy while gesturing to Cornelia, "Very well, your sister will be responsible for writing up the document but you will be required to sign it. Any ill or gain that comes from this is on your head, how Cornelia leave us, I will send your charge back to you when I am done." Looking pensive his protector stared at Lelouch with caring eyes a moment before saluting and walking out of the office, standing the Emperor opened a side door and motioned towards the startled prince. "Come, walk with me Lelouch, there are things we must discuss." Perplexed he followed his father through the doors and entered the inner gardens.

Observing the exquisitely manicured vegetation he felt it best to keep quiet, eventually his father spoke, "You kept your word. I find that rather impressive young one, very few actually hold to their vows."

Admittedly confused Lelouch asked, "What ever do you mean your Majesty?"

The Emperor's curled hair swayed as he shook his head in amusement, "You swore to become the most powerful man in the world to avenge my beloved wifes death...and you are well on your way. Tell me, did you manipulate the courts to appoint Cornelia as Viceroy of Area Eleven before or after you gained its populations trust as a benevolent dictator?"

Pausing at that and...yes...gasping Lelouch glared up at the smirking man, "How did you know?" Charles motioned for the child to continue following him as they meandered through the immaculately trimmed hedges.

"You were very coy about the entire thing, weaseling yourself in the invasion plans, being part of the insertion team in a rather believable position. Giving the Elevens rights no other Numbers enjoy while the entire time keeping your hands clean...it was a very well pulled off con."

No longer pretending to play dumb Lelouch simply smiled and met his fathers eyes, "A king is useless without his pawns...your majesty, and willing pawns are so much easier to play."

Snorting at that Charles stopped and leaned against a stone archway, "You are impressing me son. You are willing to manipulate those around you without outright lying and at the same time put yourself in the line of fire, why?" Shrugging at that Lelouch decided to be mildly cheeky by mimicking his fathers pose on the opposite side the arch.

"Something I learned while in Japan father. Only those that are willing to die for their cause should be allowed to kill others, I cannot force my people to fight for me if I cannot shoulder the risk myself." Face impassive for a moment Charles eventually flashed a brief smile while kicking off the wall, motioning his son to follow he led Lelouch to the gardens exit.

"Well put...well put, you are very much your mothers son," at this Charles actually looked a bit..forlorn? Haunted? Lelouch could not put his finger on it but his father most certainly was thinking of something outside of their current conversation. A few moments later Charles shook his head as he signaled a guard who swung the door open. "I will give you a call once you reach area Eleven son, but before you go I must admit to succumbing to idle curiosity. Why did you arrange for Clovis to be made Deputy Viceroy?"

Letting out a sharp quick laugh Lelouch smiled widely, "Because father, Cornelia is going to have to make some harsh decisions that will annoy the nobility and their grievance's are usually expressed at diplomatic functions...Cornelia despises parties and Clovis loves them. I'm simply giving my dandy brother what he wants while using him as a smoke screen for my beloved sister."

Letting out a single sharp bark of laughter Charles gave the child a gentle push through the door, "Day by day you remind me more and more of Marianne...go now boy, live your life and grow stronger. Your country will need you one day and you best be prepared, oh and as to your ultimate goal, what will you do if Cornelia manages to become Empress rather then gain the throne yourself?"

Chuckling as he walked out the gate Lelouch shrugged slightly, "If Cornelia is to become Empress so be it. She and I want the same thing, why fight the tidal wave when you can easily make it stronger?"

* * *

 **All right, I think I fixed most of this mess but I'm sure I missed some things because _HOT DAMN_ was this a borked to begin with. To clarify a few things**

 **-I have no idea what the Ashfords nobility title was, if someone can enlighten me if I got it wrong I'll change it.**

 **-I'm aware that the Ashfords _probably_ didn't develop the Glasgow, I don't particularly care though because hey, fanfiction.**

 **-Clovis is indeed ambitious enough to want to run his own Area, unfortunately for him Lelouch wants to keep him around as a meatshield for Cornelia's PR image.**

 **-Yes I am humanizing Charles, some hate it, some love it, either read it or don't I'm not going to change how I'm handling his development.**

 **-Those who read the original fic, pretty much forget the last chapter happened, after watching Akito the Exiled I am now taking this story into a completely different direction.**

 **As always, reviews are welcome, thank you for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Re-editing is such a pain in the ass, to those who didn't read the original please review, much appreciated.**

* * *

Balancing a large box of clothes on her hip with one hand Cornelia pushed the front door open with an antique rifle held in the other. Shifting her load she made her way down to the truck she had rented to transport her families belongings to the airport. Her knight followed closely behind while trying his best to see over the stack of boxes in his hands, tossing the box into the hold while helping Guilford with his burden she sighed in irritation.

"The thing about moving day, even amongst the privileged is that it is quite possibly one of the most hectic, stressful and altogether unpleasant activities a human being has to go through," snorting at that the raven haired man simply replied with "Indeed" as they made their way back to the now mostly empty villa.

Opening the door for her he said, "Once again we're spared extensive grief due to your rather Spartan outlook on material items, well outside of the weapon collection and uniforms that is, everything else can easily be replaced in Area Eleven."

Nodding at that she reentered the foyer to find that the last box was Lelouch's single contribution to the madness of moving; opening the container she saw Nunnally's old stuffed rabbit plushy, his mothers engraved zippo, the chess set Schneizal had given him and the ancient copy of 'The Count of Monte Cristo" that he kept as a reminder of his vow.

Guilford moved to her side and glanced into the box, shaking his head sadly as he closed it and picked the baggage up, Cornelia took one last long look at her home then spun on her heel following Guilford outside. He gently put the box with the rest of their things and turned to his lady, giving her a wan smile she had to strain her ears to hear his quiet statement.

"It...saddens me that he is so intent on following your example, if he were an adult emulating your habits it would be one thing, but even you weren't this...focused as a child." Knowing what he meant she jumped up and pulled the sliding door of the vehicle down, latching it the pair entered the trucks cab and they made their way to the Royal Families private airport.

Technically speaking they should have had the servants do the packing and shipping but all members of her little family were paranoid to one extent or another, so they were not going to risk some fool slipping a bomb in with their things.

With that cheery thought she finally responded to her long time friends thought, "Yes...I worry about him, he needs interaction with those his own age, Euphemia is a positive influence on him yes but even she is starting to become more..."

Trailing off trying to find the right world Guilford offered out, "Militant? They're both becoming more interested then not in being able to fight as well as lead, so I see your point," smirking at this she didn't bother keeping the pride out of her voice as she responded.

"Regardless of my worries on Lelouch's social habits I'm quite proud of those two, they're going to be handfuls when they're older but well...they would not be them otherwise would they?"

The pair traded idle chatter back and forth for a time then slipped into companionable silence before they reached the gates to the Royal Families private terminal, handing their ID's to the armed guard they were waved through as the gates slid aside.

Pulling up to the terminal Cornelia hopped out of the truck and bid Guilford farewell as he went to load their things aboard their transport, pushing her way through the turnstile door she let out a sigh of relief as the air conditioning washed across her face. Looking about she finally spotted her siblings who were both in the middle of a card game with General Darlton.

She couldn't help but let out a bemused snort seeing the blank poker faces of the General and Lelouch next to the perpetually grinning Euphemia. After a moment the petite preteen spread her cards on the table smile growing wider.

"Four of a kind boys! That's three straight wins for me, are you guys even trying?"

Darlton for his part grumbled in irritation as Lelouch dropped his stony facade and tossed the cards down in exasperation, "I have no idea how you are able to pull this off Euphie but _yes_ we _are_ trying, your obfuscating cheerfulness is an excellent cover for any tells...it is... annoying."

Snorting at this Cornelia sat down in a vacant seat and picked up the pile of cards. As she began to shuffle them the small group greeted her respectfully, Lelouch though stared at her for several moments and began blushing when she made eye contact.

"Whats wrong Lelouch?" averting his eyes he let out a light cough then said,

"Err, Cornelia I'm not sure you know this but while Arizona is a gods forsaken oven Japan..err...Area Eleven is in the middle of winter, I am unsure you are properly attired for the environment." Blinking and looking a bit nonplussed she looked down at her partially unbuttoned blouse and realized what the boy meant, while she wasn't showing _that_ much skin her outfit was definitely not appropriate for mid December outside of the desert.

"Well...shit..." she deadpanned while tossing the cards to the table, this earned an amused chuckle from both Darlton and Euphemia while Lelouch just blushed further, likely a bit embarrassed for being the one pointing it out. Huffing lightly she pulled out her cell phone to text Guilford, "Well, I really have no intention of doing any last minute shopping, I'll just make due with a uniform for now."

Sending the orders to her knight she stood to meet up with him for her change of clothes then they could finally begin this bloody journey to her new unwanted command, a sudden thought struck her then.

Turning around and rushing back to the table she grabbed their attention by heavily slamming her hands on the table, "Did anyone tell Clovis that we're on our way to Area Eleven today?!"

The three exchanged concerned glances before nodding, groaning in despair she began pacing back and forth mumbling to herself, Euphemia quite understandably looked on with concern, her half brother looked contemplative and his expression suddenly mirrored Cornelia's remorse.

"Oh no...Schneizal already left for the Homeland to take up his position as Prime Minister, that means Clovis is charge of our welcome ceremony," comprehension dawned on the little princess and grizzled general as they soon shared a groan, nodding in sympathy Cornelia dropped herself into the empty chair.

"That means...we're going to have to attend a Clovis style ball..." There was dead silence for a moment that was soon interrupted by Lelouch banging his head against the table while he mumbled,

"He's going to try and dress me up as a "proper little prince" again...I know it...you were right sister...shit..."

* * *

As the private jetliner made its final approach towards the Tokyo settlements airport a somber mood pervaded the passenger cabin, Lelouch would under normal circumstances insist that such apprehension over a simple ball was an act of hyperbole, unfortunately experience told him otherwise. Euphemia shifted a bit as she began putting the Knightmare training manuals that Cornelia had provided into her travel bag.

Glancing up at her brother she gave a weak half smile, "Maybe...maybe Clovis didn't set up anything extravagant? In reality he's only been in charge for a week right? For all we know he hasn't had time to plan anything since he doesn't have anyone to dump his responsibilities on!" Both Lelouch and Cornelia looked at her a moment then shook their heads, Lelouch responded to the girls hopeful musings first.

"You forget that we had sent Lord Jeremiah ahead to set up our enrollment at Ashford Academy and begin the transfer of Cornelia's army group to replace Schneizal's, last I heard Clovis dropped a months worth of paperwork on him and now rumor has it every nobleman and socialite in the Area have received invitations for...ick...'Something Grand'."

Deflating at this Euphemia turned her gaze towards her sister but found no solace there, "I received a notification that Clovis cleared two million quid from the Area's expense account for and I quote 'Diplomatic Incentives', he's gone all in and the taxpayers had to pay for it."

With that she exhaled loudly her annoyance obvious.

Turning her attention towards the window to watch the skyline beneath them Cornelia then slumped into her seat, suddenly no longer having the energy to deal with this everyday idiocy. Lelouch reached over and patted her shoulder in understanding when they felt a light jolt and received a short announcement from Lord Guilford in the cockpit, they were now in Area Eleven.

As the group exited the plane they were near immediately shuffled to a VTOL transport and ferried to the Viceroy Palace, Lelouch did his best to ignore Cornelia's visible eye twitch when she caught sight of the hundreds of soldiers being wasted on the honor procession. As the group exited the transport a band started playing, the brass and strings losing most of their power to the winter winds and blowing snow, turning his head about Lelouch realized there wasn't a man _not_ in dress uniform _._

This normally wouldn't bother him that much but the thin garment was designed for ceremonies at Pendragon or a buildings interior, not exposed to the of the elements, this was just malice driven cruelty. Choosing to simply get this farce over with the group proceeded down the snow dusted red carpet bisecting the collected gathering, as they approached the buildings main entrance Clovis la Britannia swept open the doors cheerfully waving.

"Brother! Sisters! It is splendid to see you all again! How was your trip, did you get the invitations to tonights ball? Oh of course you did you are the guests of honor after all! Do you have anything to wear? Fear not, for I've already brought the finest fashion designers in the country to put together an ensemble that's to die for!"

The three males in Cornelia's group all managed to avoid the rambling princes gaze as they collectively rolled their eyes, 'On second thought lets not attribute to malice that which can be explained away with stupidity' Lelouch thought to himself.

The group allowed Clovis to drag them inside if for no other reason then to get the soldiers out of the cold, entering the opulent palace Lelouch couldn't help but gawk at the splendor, crystal chandeliers hung from the ceilings, ancient tapestries adorned the walls, and Persian carpets lay sprawled on the floors.

Euphemia grabbed his wrist and tugged him down so she could whisper into his ear, "I think the only word to describe what he's done to this place is ostentatious, Nelly is going to have a wobbler on this one..."

Not in the mood to get snarky over the obvious Lelouch simply closed his eyes and began to count down from twenty as his half brother continued to blather to his disinterested sister. After a time the unwanted tour ended and Cornelia's group bee-lined for her staterooms, after the doors were closd and the latches set the five of them collapsed into chairs or against walls.

General Darlton was rubbing his palms against his forehead as he began to speak, "Your highness, I...I am unsure I can keep my sons from committing regicide if this is what we're going to have to deal with in the near future..." banging his head against the wall Lelouch couldn't help but laughing loudly at this.

"Absolutely wonderful, we're the displaced foreigners and all that duff, all Clovis has to do is let our own inexperience ruin us..."

Cornelia lifted her head smirking devilishly, "Unfortunately for the vapid little dandy we figured that out already, Lelouch you and Euphie go wander about, I'm going to go see what our lovely half brother has prepared for me. I'm going to be honest I'm expecting pleather and knee high boots but who knows, he might surprise me."

Shaking that rather...lurid image from his head Lelouch nodded and followed Euphie out of the room, he was immediately set upon by Clovis's aids who then dragged him into a dressing room, Euphie was similarly assaulted and made brief eye contact before her door was slammed shut. Turning to face what awaited him he was confronted with a mannequin covered in purple silk lace, yellow feathers and...good gods...a codpiece.

"Oh...bloody brilliant," he managed to gasp out as his own door was slammed shut.

* * *

Cornelia was beside herself in rage, the "outfit" Clovis had picked for her was some sort of bastardized conglomeration of multiple fashions. While this could sometimes work (and end up looking cute) it combined the impracticality of a Victorian era ball gown with the tackiness of the modern cocktail dress.

In a word the collection of petticoats was an abomination, staring down at the dress on her bed as well as the massive list of guests already attending she came to a grim realization; there was quite literally no way out of this even with her authority. Flopping into an overstuffed chair she sighed in resignation as a meek knock tapped at her door.

Mumbling, "Come in," she was not surprised to see an equally shell shocked Euphemia shuffle into the room, she gave the pink and yellow aberration a cool look before she stopped in front of her elder sister. A shuddering breath left her lips as she closed her eyes and collected herself.

After a moment the pinkette finally spoke up, "You remember that absolutely horrid show about those parents that force their toddlers to dress like umm...adults of questionable virtue? I...hmm...can we possibly set off stink bombs perhaps? Maybe even call in the fire brigade? Perhaps cut power to the settlement for a short time?"

Cornelia could not help herself, the very idea that _Euphemia_ was attempting to scheme her way out of this was too much, bursting out in laughter she reached out and hugged her little sister affectionately while the younger girl kept talking. The moment was broken soon after by the door was quickly swung open then just as quickly slammed shut.

Lelouch marched in silently his back ramrod straight and his right eye ticking at random.

Stopping before the pair he took a long breath then said, "My suit...has more lace than the most promiscuous of harlot's lingerie...sister I fully intend on ruining this evening, I need Euphemia, a Glasgow, access to the events fireworks and some rubber bands."

Both ladies cocked their heads to the side and looked at the boy in confusion. Eventually Cornelia asked, "Whatever do you need rubber bands for?"

Smirking in a way that sent shivers up their spines he simply said, "You don't need to know that right now, Euphie? Are you ready to waltz with chaos?"

* * *

As dusk gathered Lelouch let out a deep sigh of satisfaction, rather then Clovis's clown suit he was in the same black silks he always wore, his outward expression for grief that would not change until his family was avenged and their killers brought to justice.

He was aware it was a pretentious gesture, but frankly he couldn't find it in himself to give a damn, Cornelia's teaching really bled through all his actions.

Looking up at the sky he lamented the fact that Tokyo was so bright, he'd love to see the stars at the moment but that was just not to be, on the plus side this was a good sign; if one could not see the stars that meant the most of the city had power.

In most other nations other than Britannian colonies this may not be seen as a big deal, but considering most of this nations populace was the subjugated Japanese people it was a clear sign of progress.

Lelouch rarely if ever let his ego get the better of him but tonight he couldn't help himself, he and his sister had set up one hell of a distraction to avoid this dreaded event in a nation he had helped conquer with minimal bloodshed. Truth be told when he had infiltrated the former nation of Japan as the Britannian ambassadors 'son' he never thought he would end the war in one very heated conversation.

The Japanese Prime Minister's only son Suzaku had been a firebrand of a hothead, not oblivious in the slightest that an invasion was inevitable he had challenged Lelouch to spare immediately after being introduced to the youth.

Much to the boys dismay Lelouch had held his own, their entire fight punctuated with political debate, if he were to be honest to himself he'd enjoyed the entire exercise, debate and duel alike far too much. Afterwords they'd exchanged e-mails and moved on with their lives, a month later war broke out between their nations. To say he had been shocked when he had received a message asking if he had been serious about changing Britannia from the inside would be the understatement of the century.

After a bit of discussion Suzaku had turned over the location of his bunker and Genbu Kururugi had been captured in a bloodless coup, in less then a week Japan's military collapsed and either ran to China or melted into the islands populace.

"And here I am," Lelouch mumbled to himself, stuck at a party in his sisters honor by a sycophant who had no idea how unwanted his actions were, absolutely lovely. Watching the ballroom with minimal interest his heart suddenly skipped a beat when a girl close to his age met his eyes.

She was gorgeous, fiery red hair framing a delicate face with piercing blue eyes bleeding off calculating intelligence, his subconscious betrayed him as he stood up straight and gave her his devil may care grin.

Giving him a demure smile in return she moved to approach him,"Prince Lelouch vi Britannia I assume?"

He finally figured out why she looked so unique in the sea of Caucasian faces, she had some Asian in her heritage, and it did nothing but benefit her, remembering to come back to reality he smiled and gave her a slight bow.

"You have caught me at a disadvantage milady, you obviously know of me but I do not have the honor of knowing your name," blushing ever so slightly she curtsied quickly.

Finishing the gesture she said, "I am the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld, second in the line of my father Duke Norris Stadtfeld."

Grinning Lelouch took her hand and kissed it without thinking about it, her blush doubled at that, "Charmed. How may I help you milady?"

Averting her gaze slightly she quietly replied with, "You already have my lord, it is because of the law you put into action that I have my family, my mother she is...was Japanese, an Eleven now. Thanks to your actions she was folded in with the others like her and made a full blooded Britannian, the look on the face of the woman who tried to replace her was most...rewarding when your ruling was put into action. While you may have done it for reasons less then virtuous you allowed my family to weather the storm and thrive, I simply wished to extend my thanks."

Grinning widely his facade falling away Lelouch hooked his arm around hers as he led her along the perimeter of the dancers, "Indeed? I am thrilled to hear of this, to me family means more then air itself, the fact that my actions allowed you to retain yours gladdens my heart. Tell me milady what are your plans for the future?"

Pausing just a moment she cocked her head slightly, "My friend the Lady Millicent Ashford wishes me to enroll at her grandfathers academy, I am considering it although I have as of yet to bring it to my parents attention."

Letting out a light chuckle Lelouch drew her into the wave of dancers waltzing on impulse, "Indeed? Well it appears we shall be classmates milady, my sister and I were both invited to Ruben's little experiment and I am not one to avoid a challenge. May I ask what are you focusing on?"

Blushing furiously now at the close proximity of the ballroom dance as well as the personal questions she once again replied quietly.

"I...I'm focusing on political science but I am hoping to enter the officer training program, my brother Naoto is to inherit my Lord fathers title and I do enjoy the freedom of Knightmare training, it is my hope that I prove myself worthy enough to pursue that."

His smile spreading into a full toothy grin Lelouch replied in kind, "Well my Lady Kallen I am pursuing the same thing as you, perhaps we will become partners in the near future?"

Her blush had spread and darkened to the point her face matched her hair, nodding quickly she said,"I...I would like that my lord, for what you have done for my family I would gladly protect you on the field of battle."

As the song wound down Lelouch let Kallen go and smiled at her knowingly.

"Milady it was an honor to meet you and I look forward to our time at Ashford, if you would allow it please excuse me I must bring my attention to a project in progress."

She curtsied once again and smiled in return, "Of course Prince, I look forward to it," as she turned away Lelouch, for reasons unknown to himself called out to her.

"Lady Stadtfeld!" The redhead turned around looking at him in curiosity, giving her his brightest smile he bowed deeply to her, "Milady I hope to prove one day that your faith in me was not misplaced, until we meet again."

Grinning widely at this she returned his words and moved on to find her parents, looking about Lelouch spotted Euphemia who was still doing a splendid job of distracting Jeremiah.

Problem with having the only competent Knight outside of Cornelia's command was that he had to pull the mans attention elsewhere when he was pulling a rather splendid prank, motioning for Euphie to follow him she bowed lightly to Jeremiah and moved to join brother.

"Is everything ready Lelouch?" She asked as they hurried towards the double doors that lead to their waiting sister.

Smirking ever so lightly he nodded, "Oh yes, things are about to get quite interesting."

* * *

Cornelia was glowering out her dressing rooms window at the windswept Viceroy palaces ballroom when her doors swung open, as they hit the walls with a loud crash Lelouch walked through the opening with a smug expression on his face followed by a grinning Euphemia. Walking up to their favored sister they both observed the ballroom as suddenly several explosions went off, people began running out of the hall at random as fireworks began landing in the various gardens smoldering in the wet foliage. After a time a large group managed to escape the building enmasse as a Knightmare chased them launching fireworks at random from its splayed out hands, eventually the wildly spinning war machine hit a a wall and fell over.

This did nothing to stop the fireworks though, as the entire courtyard was lit up with random cracks of light and color, Lelouch looked up to his elder sister grinning mischievously, "Sooooo, Pizza Hut?"

Barking out a short laugh Cornelia covered her eyes and failed at repressing her grin, dropping her arms she grabbed both her siblings hands and walked towards the doors, "Oh very well, my treat."

* * *

 **Blah, so much editing, please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So only a bit has been added from the original for this chapter, it was heavily re-edited though and I still don't know if I caught all the grammatical mistakes. Damn Nem from two years ago really needed a beta tester. Anyway, those who wish to do so please leave a review, hopefully I'll get to the mind searingly boring task of editing next chapter soon.**

* * *

Clovis la Britannia was not a very happy man, he prided himself on being a spectacular host who was always on the cutting edge of fashion and decor, and that being said the disturbance at the Ball had embarrassed him to no end. He'd spent well over a week putting together his lovely siblings welcoming party even taking the extra effort to work around the traditional Christmas Dance without interfering with its planning. Then some, some... _rapscallion_ had tried to kill everyone with a knightmare loaded with fireworks!

Well, ok it hadn't really tried to kill anyone, and all things considered the fireworks being used were low output and easily put out with the fire sprinklers, and up until it ran headfirst into the building it seemed to have been aiming away from people. Still the principle stood.

The worst thing is they _still_ had no idea who set the horrid prank up, the knightmare itself had been a first run Glasgow junker used for training and worst of all the only evidence they found in the smoked out cockpit was a sheen of melted rubber over all its control surfaces.

Not even wanting to know what the deal had been with that his mind shifted to what truly bothered him, he was made a fool before Cornelia, and while she hadn't said a word about it she had been so obviously disgusted with the situation that she had taken her wards to a _commoner_ restaurant to avoid the chaos.

He'd need to find some way to make it up to her, to prove to her that he deserved his position as her second and make up for this fiasco, he'd brought this up to Lelouch and the brilliant youngster had suggested he try to improve diplomatic ties with their closest neighbor by initiating trade talks with the Chinese Embassy.

It _had_ been something he was assigned to do before he had decided to host the Ball so it could very well work in his favor, it had heartened him when his little brother had offered to come along as moral support so he had made the appointment. A few days later found the two of them riding in amiable silence in his personal car, he so enjoyed showing off the stylish vehicle despite Lelouch's insistence they keep a low profile. If one did not flaunt their power and wealth what was the point of having it after all?

With that thought they reached the heavy steel gates of the embassy, a guard walked up to the limo and knocked on the window.

The driver opened it and was met with a prompt, "Papers please," in lightly accented English. The driver nodded and handed over Clovis' and Lelouch's credentials, after a moment the guard nodded once again, returning the papers while giving a brief bow to the two royals in the back. Motioning for the gates to be open the guard retook his position and the car began moving again.

Looking to Lelouch Clovis smiled and said, "Well at the very least they know how to show proper respect yes?"

Lelouch snapped out of whatever thoughts that distracted the youth and nodded, "Indeed brother, while I don't particularly care for groveling a bit of deference is always acceptable," with that the raven haired prince fell back into whatever occupied him.

Grinning mischievously Clovis crossed his arms while glancing towards the ceiling. "You wouldn't happen to be thinking of a particularly fetching young redhead would you little brother?"

Head snapping up and eyes widening the boy blushed bright enough to light up the enclosed space, laughing lightly Clovis decided to have some fun. This was after all one of the few times he'd seen the 'Black Prince' unsettled, and it was his prerogative as his older brother to poke fun.

"My my on the mark wasn't I? I will admit you could do far worse, her elder brother more than likely will inherit the title of Duke from their lord father but she is still from a fine pedigree, and with your new laws there isn't even any social stigma's attached to an eventual courtship."

Lelouch quickly stuttered out, "It's...it's not like that Clovis, seriously!"

Not relenting and grinning even wider as they pulled up to the Embassy entrance he continued pushing, "Oh my, did you perchance know of her beforehand little brother? My my how scandalous, changing the very fabric of Britannian politics for a potential dalliance, so romantic!"

Leaving the boy sputtering Clovis let himself out of the car grinning widely, 'Oh my this is too good, note to self watch how that relationship unfolds, this is too fun to pass up!'

* * *

Lelouch was left sputtering as his dandy brother got out of the car grinning. Maneuvering the oblivious man into this meeting and tricking him into bringing him along was childs play, but bringing up his meeting with the Lady Stadtfeld had been...unexpected.

Grumbling about nosy presumptuous adults Lelouch crawled out of the limo and followed his still thoroughly bemused brother into the embassy. As with everything touched by Britannia the foyer was overdone, he was pleased however to see most of the walls hung with beautiful silk coverings with intricate caricatures of mythological beasts sewn into them.

As they were announced the ridiculously fat eunuch ambassador met up with Clovis and exchanged pleasantries, his gaze hovered a bit too long on Lelouch for his personal liking. He'd gotten that kind of look a few times before and it always made him wish he had a pistol on his person.

After a moment he was asked to wait in a guest room while he and Clovis talked, at this a very tall man in the robes of a minor eunuch stepped forward and bowed graciously.

Speaking in the high pitch all his brethren shared he said, "Allow me to give the young prince a brief tour of the embassy, I noticed he was taken by some of the artwork and I am sure he would appreciate the collection we have brought with us from the Forbidden City."

The fat ambassador and Clovis both agreed absently and walked off, after a few moments the pair were left standing there alone.

Smirking the tall man motioned for Lelouch to follow him and began whispering to him dropping the high pitch and taking on a much more natural baritone, "You know Prince I'd be careful if I were you, Xao has a particular taste for little boys and in his eyes you are quite exotic."

At this Lelouch gave him a cockeyed glare, "Really Liáng Xiùyīng you act as if you don't swing that way yourself," Snorting the man opened a door leading to a secure meeting room and ushered the young prince inside while closing the door. After scanning the room with a device and nodding in satisfaction he offered Lelouch a seat and a cup of tea.

"Please Lelouch I may play for the home team but I'm not like _that,_ your brother is quite...alluring though, pity he's also an idiot, I like my playthings to at least be able to hold a decent discussion."

Smirking Lelouch sipped his tea and grunted in approval, meeting the eunuch's half lidded eyes he smugly said, "I have it."

Now sitting up straight and grinning the man waited expectantly as Lelouch pulled a thumb drive from his pocket and slid it across the table. Smile widening to show off his pearlescent teeth Xiùyīng turned to a small laptop and plugged the device in, after a few moments his smile fell a bit as he viewed the contents in disgust.

Shaking his head he turned back to Lelouch, "I'm sorry you had to view this young prince, its...disturbing even for me, but with this blackmail material on Xao I'll be able to take his place in the high eunuchs court within a year... I just wish it hadn't come at that cost of these children."

Nodding Lelouch finished his tea in order to settle his roiling stomach, the things that horrid man had done to the local orphans were...ugh...

"I know, when I set up the trap to record his...recreations I had no idea of his preferences. To say that I had to stop Lord Jeremiah from knocking down the embassy walls with a Knightmare and stomping the man flat would be an understatement, everyone involved is revolted."

He silently thanked his paranoia for not allowing him to involve his usual partner in crime, Euphie didn't need to see this... Looking back up he continued, "My only request along with what we already discussed is he die, preferably horribly and slowly."

Xiùyīng grinned widely at that, "Already planned on it young prince, while I personally enjoy the fact that "Eunuch" is simply a title rather then a state of being as it had been in the past I do believe that man deserves being castrated more then anyone I've ever met."

Standing up Lelouch offered his hand to Xiùyīng smirking, "Excellent, you know what I want you to do, once you're on the council I need the prerequisites set up within the next three years, make sure the force you put together is composed of those that share the current regimes mindset, you wouldn't want to lose any moderates to this venture."

Returning the smirk he took the princes proffered hand and shook it, "Indeed young one, well, shall we go see what our idiot 'Superiors' have been up to?"

Rolling his eyes Lelouch nodded and hopped down from the chair, "I do feel bad for this one, whatever my brother has arranged will have to be approved by Cornelia, the shear amount of grammatical mistakes alone is going to make her want to shoot him in the head."

Raising his voice back into the high pitched tones of the Eunuch's Xiùyīng snickered a bit at that, "Personally I'd be shocked if it isn't a series of crudely drawn stick figures. Hmm, you know how about we just leave the snakes be a while longer and I take you on that tour? We have several jade statues from the Ming dynasty that I believe you would find interesting, if you wish to that is."

Lelouch paused for a moment than nodded his approval, "Why not, make Clovis wait on someone else for once, lead on my friend, lead on."

* * *

 _ **A Week Before Christmas, In Transit To Ashford Acadamy**_

If there was one thing Euphemia li Britannia was truly proud of, one thing she could lord over any of the nobility or the royal family (Cornelia not withstanding) it was that she had her brother Lelouch's full confidence. She was a part of every single machination he had prepared for their families eventual take over of the empire since day one.

They were both young sure, and your typical twelve year old wasn't plotting on toppling nations and raising armies. On that note your typical twelve year old also didn't grow up in the crucible of the Britannian royal family under the care of a woman who could arguably be considered the avatar for the Goddess of War.

So it was with some trepidation that she realized Lelouch had made a move without letting her in on it. She wasn't blind, she knew the smirk, she knew the coy words, he'd managed to play Clovis in a fashion where the man hadn't even realized it, and for some reason this upset her.

Alot.

So she was pouting, arms crossed and nose up she refused to meet her brothers gaze as he tried to converse with her.

Eventually his frustration showed and he asked, "Euphemia what _is_ it! I cannot rightly fix what is bothering you if I do not know the cause!"

Staying silent for a few more moments out of simple childish spite she eventually turned her violet gaze to his own, "What did you do that would warrant leaving me out of your plans brother?" Looking a bit startled his eyes went from concerned, to angry, to...sorrowful in a handful of seconds, sighing he scratched the back of his head and eventually spoke.

"I'm...blackmailing a member of the Chinese Federation via a proxy, the blackmail material was...unpleasant, I had no idea what it was to entail when I went in on this venture but the die had already been cast as they say. I...I don't want to leave you out of my plans dear sister. I simply did not want you to see what that...animal's proclivities were, if you wish a vague understanding I had to stop Jeremiah and eventually Villeta from hunting the man down."

She was silent a few moments before she spoke up again, "Whatever or whoever he is hurting...can he still do so?"

Grinning wolfishly he shook his head, "No no I have a good friend lording the evidence over the mans head as we speak, he will soon no longer be a threat to anyone, rest assured of that dear Euphemia."

Nodding slowly she glanced back out the window of their limo for a time and eventually quietly replied "Ok, I will give you a freebie this time brother, but next time I want in, we agreed to make the Empire a happier place together. A place Nunnally would have loved, don't push me aside out of misguided virtue, please..."

He stared at her a moment before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close, and after a time he let out a withering sigh.

"I'm sorry Euphie...sometimes its hard to remember you are as strong as Cornelia, I promise I will try not to long shield you from my plans in the future. With that being said we're about to meet up with one of my long term schemes, tell me sister what do you know about Genbu Kururugi's heir?"

Pausing she tilted her head then sighed, "Very little in fact, it was as if all information on that family had been redacted on purp... Lelouch, what did you do?"

Turning to her brother his feral grin had switched to a closed eye smile of satisfaction. "Well it would seem Suzaku turned in his father when he found out he had ordered total war, every man woman and child was supposed to fight to the death regardless of the cost. Suzaku...I like him honestly, alot, a bit naive but he realized his dad had effectively signed the genocide of his people so he contacted me and had Genbu black bagged under the promise that he not be hurt. I kept my word even though I dislike the bastard, he's currently living out a life of comfortable solitude in the Duchy of North Dakota, more then he deserves but I consider Suzaku a friend and I hold to my word."

Smiling at that she leaned her head into her brothers arm while staring up at the ceiling, meeting his gaze she asked, "Whats Suzaku like?"

Smiling wanly her brother thought for a few moments before responding, "Headstrong, a very well defined sense of right and wrong, and driven. When I let him know my plans of changing the Empire from within starting with Japan he became quite amiable to my ambitions. As luck would have it he is also one of the most gifted Knightmare pilots I've ever met, not as good as Cornelia or I yet but he has the potential to exceed us all. Old Ruben took him in at my behest but he already considers him a surrogate son, with that in mind I've managed to ...fudge some records and make him nobility on record."

"With no one knowing what really happened in Tokyo outside of Nelly and Father it was easy to pull off really, I have big plans for him, for us all." Smiling happily she closed her eyes and let herself relax in his embrace, 'Ok, I can accept this, I'll work with you brother, for eventual peace and equality I will gladly walk the path of blood and intrigue beside you.'

As if he heard her thoughts he tightened his arm around her and confidently stated, "One day Euphemia...one day the horrors of this world will be the fodder for legends, the wraiths and shadows of the past only stirred upon Halloween to scare those that have forgotten...one day..."

With that the pair of royals fell into their own thoughts as the limo pulled up to Ashford Academy.

* * *

After passing through the admittedly heavy security it was not long before Lelouch was following their Japanese guide with Euphie in tow, as they were lead deeper into the academy grounds he couldn't help but nod in approval at what he saw.

The dorms were unsegregated, only split by male and female, the science labs were kept separate from everything else in case a classic case of "boom" occurred, and Rubens office was dead center of it all so anyone could approach him.

Speaking for the Princess's benefit the guide, who was oddly enough dressed as a maid explained the layout, "Duke Ashford has set the academy up as a traditional campus with some obvious changes as you've already noted, and rather uniquely we have the Knightmare development labs located underneath it all. The general idea was that many of the technicians and scientists will also be taking the roll of professors so we've kept everything in one place.

"Well, that's the reason we give the public, reality is after the Nobility tried to strip the family of its titles and properties once already so the Duke's justifiably paranoid and wants to keep all ventures under constant observation."

Euphemia chuckled humorlessly at that, "I do not blame him, one does not let their guard down after they nearly lose everything to that pit of vipers."

Turning to look at Euphemia she simply replied with a, "Just so," and a curt nod.

After a moment they finally reached the offices and the guide opened the door with no preamble, "Prince Lelouch vi Britannia and Princess Euphemia li Britannia to see you Ruben-sama."

Raising an inquisitive eyebrow at the familiarity Lelouch kept his tongue as the old man looked up from his desk smiling, "Excellent, thank you Sayoko-san, please bring us some tea and then that will be all," the woman bowed briefly and left closing the door behind her.

Taking their seats in front of the Duke's desk Lelouch quirked a small smile, "Hiring the locals, quite progressive, glad to see _someone_ is following the new policies without crying about them." Ruben rolled his eyes at this while fiddling with some paperwork, once Sayoko returned with the tea and excused herself the aging patriarch began speaking.

"Yes, she's one of the best and the last of her line, quite sad really, but that is beside the point, you are here for the progress report on the fifth generation frames?" Nodding Lelouch sipped his tea and looked at it startled, 'oolong, nice change of pace' he thought.

Taking another sip he eventually replied, "Indeed, you said that with the help of your new ward that you have ironed out many of the issues prevalent in the Sutherland design?"

Ruben let out a hissing sigh as he nodded at that, "Yes, while thankfully no time was lost on its development due to your intervention on our behalf we still needed a gifted devicer to get some of the kinks out of the design. Mostly weight displacement issues, we'll likely have them rolled out in six months or less." He received a pair of genuine smiles from the royals with that splendid news, though he continued unabated. "The truly good news are my newest set of acquisitions, an Earl Lloyd Asplund, his long time associate Cécile Croomy and their err...I think the term would be 'frienemy" Rakshata Chawla."

"The first pair were formally applying to join your brothers Camelot program when I scooped them up and the young Indian lady simply wanted reassurance that whatever you are doing will help free her people from the Chinese Federation. She's a bit of an idealist but all three are...hmm...mildly sociopathic?"

This news was both welcome and startling, Euphemia beat Lelouch to the punch though, "Wait, does this mean brother Schneizal is now aware that we have poached some of his potential acquisitions?"

They received an indigent grunt in reply, "Young lady I'll have you know I've been practicing business and corporate espionage longer then you, the young prince and your elder brother have been alive combined, he has no idea what took place nor shall he ever."

Placating the now bristly noble Lelouch attempted to sooth the situation, "She was simply covering our bases my good man, no harm intended, now...about them being sociopathic?"

* * *

Forty minutes later Lelouch and Euphemia followed Sayoko down to the main labs while the royal siblings whispered to each other.

"Ruben's hired crazy people to develop super weapons, I'm sorry that this concerns me," Euphie said in a huff.

Gritting his teeth Lelouch growled in reply, "I _know_ dear sister, but as we've said before the ends justify the means, lets just meet up with Suzaku and give him the good news. After that we'll go home and I'll meet our new lead scientists at a later date. Personally I am with you, I have no desire to deal with anything audacious at the moment."

Seeming to accept this she followed her brother as they entered a near empty meeting room that held a single desk and chair occupied by a young brown haired Japanese boy who was busily writing on several sheets of paper.

"Conductivity of the stun tonfas insufficient to actually do anything in the 'stun' category, essentially useless bludgeoning weapon, suggest developing bladed replacements. Landspinners useless in sandy environment, suggest dev..." Glancing up and noticing the pair in front of him he paused his musings. He glared at Lelouch with a mixture of anger and respect, but that all melted away as he glanced at Euphemia, she let out a nervous giggle as she curtsied lightly.

"Lord Suzaku Kururugi I presume?"

Looking confused he glanced back at Lelouch, "Umm...Lord?"

Grinning Lelouch walked forward and placed a large envelope before the emerald eyed boy, "Indeed, you are now Baron Suzaku Kururugi. First of your line, a reward for your extensive service to his Royal Majesties Empire, and yes I'm aware you wanted no such thing I simply wish to avoid having one of my most loyal and talented subordinates overshadowed by a bunch of mouthbreathing sycophants."

The boy ripped the envelop open and read the beautiful calligraphy written upon the expensive parchment, blanching he met Lelouch's eyes, "This is signed by the Emperor himself, how-"

Lelouch cut him off with a chopping hand motion, "Because I asked him politely. I honestly think he was so amused by the fact that I didn't bother with subterfuge that he allowed it simply in the hopes that I tried something like this again, which I likely will. That is beside the point, with your new title you are now given a minor allowance from the royal treasuries as well as earning the right to apply to Ashford Academy, which I highly suggest you do.

"On the plus side you'll be attending with Euphie and I," at first it looked as if the Japanese boy was going to snap out but the moment the pinkette was mentioned he paused.

Glancing at her once again he dropped his head, "Ok...ok, if it will make the Empire a gentler place I'll accept all of...this..."

He started a bit as Euphemia walked over and touched his shoulder, looking up violet met emerald as she soothingly said, "And we will succeed, for those that have been lost and those who do not yet realize what is at stake, is that not right, Baron?"

Smiling up at the angel before him Suzaku simply nodded his acquiesce.

* * *

 _ **Christmas Day Morning**_

Cornelia sat sipping her coffee with a pleased smile upon her face, while the 'gifts' she had been given by her extended family and plethora of hangers on sat unopened in the foyer she was happily sporting the pink bunny slippers from Euphemia and using the mug from Lelouch with "Best Valkyrie Ever" emblazoned on its side. Watching her siblings open their gifts she glanced over to Guilford who smirked in return, it was a pity Darlton couldn't make it but he'd taken his leave to spend the day with his adopted sons, outside of that it was the perfect setting.

"Yay!" Euphie shouted as she tore open another package, shaking his head ruefully Lelouch reached for a slightly quivering gift with several holes in it, seeing it was from Lord Guildford he lifted the lid and was immediately set upon by a barking blur. As he lay on his back looked slightly confused Euphemia yelped "PUPPY!" as she rushed over to the bluish black hound. Sitting up Lelouch lifted the small dog in his hands and stared at it with a bemused expression, turning to Guilford he lifted his brows in question.

"That my lord is an Australian Blue Heeler, typically used as cattle dogs they are very loyal and obedient, I felt that it was a good way for you to gain some leadership skills with unruly subordinates." Staring at the pup warily his incredulous stare was broken when the creature in question licked his nose.

Smiling widely he hugged it tightly, "Thank you Lord Guilford, I believe I shall name him Lohengrin."

Smirking Cornelia asked, "As in the Swan Knight?"

Sniffing indigently his only reply was, "I happen to like Wagner," with that he began playing with the now barking puppy, rolling her eyes Cornelia watched her siblings for a time before she interrupted them.

"Euphemia, why don't you take Lohengrin for a walk? I have the strangest feeling that you'll be around him just as much as our brother," grinning and moving before Lelouch could react she scooped up the dog in question and begin skipping down the hall, the chants of "puppy puppy puppy!" echoing in her wake.

Looking slightly miffed with a mixture of amusement Lelouch stared at Cornelia as she pulled a final package from beneath a pillow and handed it to her half brother, he looked at it a moment and opened it.

Gasping he lifted the blued revolver from the velvet case and held it in shaking hands, "Sist...Cornelia what is this for?"

Smiling she finished her coffee and sat next to the boy wrapping an arm around him, "This dear brother was your maternal grandfathers sidearm in the First Pacific War. A Webley army model, I had it retooled to modern ammunition standards and replaced the old rotted grips, I hope you like it."

Still cradling the ancient weapon he ran his fingers along the engraving in the handle, after a time he asked what it meant, at this she grinned happily. "As you know the sword thrust through a heart is my families emblem, the caricatured bird in flight was your lady mothers, so I combined the two, I found it fitting."

"It...its wonderful," he whispered, before she knew what was happening he had tackled her into a hug, holding back tears he whispered, "Merry Christmas...and thank you Nel," in her ear. Smiling happily she held him tight and simply replied with, "Merry Christmas Lou, Merry Christmas."

* * *

 **If you're curious the Australian Blue Heeler is the dog seen in Mad Max and the Fallout games, the Webley is the revolver used by Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a standard sidearm used by the Brits pre and post WWII. Oh and obviously the symbol that Cornelia bestowed upon Lelouch is the emblem of the Black Knights, I found it...deeply ironic, hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 4

_**This. Was. A. Pain. In. The. Ass. To. Edit. Please, if you enjoyed this monster, review.**_

* * *

 _ **December 26, 2012 A.T.B.**_

The newly minted Baron Suzaku Kurururgi followed the Princesses Cornellia, Euphemia, and Prince Lelouch into his new home, the recently completed Viceroy Palace still reeking of recently applied drywall mud and fresh paint. Glancing about the opulent palace he was stunned by how _wasteful_ it all was, looking over her shoulder Cornellia noticed his bug eyed and rather judgmental visage, slowing her pace to be next to the boy she let out an exasperated sigh.

"Ridiculous isn't it young one?" As she spoke Lelouch and Euphemia noticed the other pair of their group walking in tandem so they both matched their pace to hear what their sister had to say, "Just so you know my personal tastes are far more...subdued. This place was designed by my elder brother Schneizal who can be a bit..." as she trailed off Euphie began chuckling causing Suzaku's heart to skip a beat for some unknown reason, huh...weird.

"Schneizal has tastes that belong somewhere in between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, its a bit gaudy but it's just a cute little quirk of his. Now all the other..err...ornamentation..."

Lelouch picked up the conversation as a look of disgust was featured prominently upon us face, "The tacky, overblown, and oft offensive decor is thanks to our dear brother Clovis. Don't worry you will get to meet him soon and you will want to shoot him in the head at least thrice in your first conversation, its not that he's a bad person per say he's just...".

Lelouch paused as he searched for the right words, eventually he just shrugged and continued, "His vapid vanity has a tendency to grate the nerves, sorry my friend we cannot have it all."

Nodding in agreement Euphemia let out a vexed sigh, after a moment she added, "Yes...yes Clovis is a bit of a ponce sad to say," realizing they'd reached their destination her mood brightened once more "Anyway here we are."

As they approached a set of intricately decorated doors the guards standing on either side of the entrance reached for a handle and pulled the gold trimmed panels aside allowing the royals and noble entrance, as the group looked about the large state room the doors slammed behind them.

Euphemia spun on a tip toe to face the new noble sending her skirts swirling while grinning widely, "These are your personal quarters. Lelouch and I were tempted to leave you at Ashford for expediencies sake but Big Sis Nelly insisted that if you were to be a ward under her care you were to be under her guidance as well." Feeling understandably shocked that the woman who conquered his nation was to care for his well being he simply looked at the violet haired Princess blankly, she stared down at him for a time before shifting her gaze to an expectant Lelouch.

After a moment her reticence broke and she smirked at the Japanese lord, "Our father's...acquiescence has changed a great many things, it obviously brings its own headaches from the press but it also means nearly everyone is too terrified to even question your appointment. Long made short young one? No one will ask questions in so long as you stay in line, understood?" Trying to grasp the maelstrom of chaos known as his life Suzaku glanced towards the two younger royals and once receiving nods of encouragement from both he bowed deeply towards Cornelia.

"I understand milady, I will do everything in my power to prove myself as an asset rather then a liabilty, so I swear upon the blood of my ancestors."

Cornelia for her part watched the boy emotionlessly for a moment before giving him a heart stopping smile, "Very well, you kids wanna go get a snack? Heard Schneizal had a full fledged ice cream bar installed before he left, that man and his sweet tooth..."

With that Suzaku followed the trio through the maze like palace arriving at the officer cafeteria shortly. Euphemia let out an adorable squeak of happiness as she ran up to the massive array of topping trays and freezers, Lelouch then let out a light whistle once he saw the variety of flavors.

Turning to Cornelia he asked, "Err, has Schneizal always gone all out like this for sweets?"

The Viceroy chuckled a bit while shaking her head, "Like you wouldn't believe, remind me sometime to tell you what happened to your mother's cake on her wedding day, I swear Father would have exiled him if Lady Marianne hadn't been laughing so hard."

So with that the quartet sat down taste testing all the various flavors while chatting amiably about family and politics, Euphie and Lelouch doing their best to draw him into the conversation the whole while. It was a strange feeling, having this sense of belonging and contentment even though his act of betrayal had landed his father in custody and brought his country to heel beneath Britannia; to add to his personal conundrum he couldn't feel any shame in the act, and the reasoning was quite simple really.

When the invasion had seemed all but inevitable Suzaku had researched what Emperor Charles' Empire did to conquered areas and it was...horrifying, mass executions, burning of national landmarks, once beautiful cities run into ruin so the local culture could be overwritten by that of Britannia. It was disgusting, and as luck would have it the pair put in charge of planning the invasion had agreed fully; so in exchange for a swift decisive victory Japan retained her soul, aside of changing who they had to pay their taxes to and having to put up with stuck up colonists little changed.

"Better than China taking over at least," he mumbled to himself over his bowl of mint chocolate chip.

Lelouch met his eyes being the only one to hear his utterance, smiling sadly he whispered, "The worst choice aside from all the other ones, I know, and we'll make the changes necessarily so our Empire is a strong, but gentle place to live...Hey Euphemia!" Raising his voice at the last bit the prince gave all those around the table a wide devil may care grin, "Its about time isn't it?"

Pulling a small pocket watch out by its dainty chain she popped it open then grinned in return, "Indeed it is dear brother," both Cornelia and Suzaku stared at the pair questioningly but they remained silent. Suzaku was a bit worried but Cornelia just looked mildly amused, she opened her mouth to say something but Lelouch leaned over the table and stuck a spoonful of raspberry ice cream between her lips.

"Try this flavor Nel its pretty good, now don't say a word, you will not want to miss this for the world," rolling her eyes at her half brother she swallowed the frozen treat and sat silently for a moment, suddenly a deep keening wail reverberated through the palace. Jumping up in shock he felt his arm being grabbed by Lelouch who pulled him back down to his seat.

As the cafeteria doors slammed opened a lanky man wearing fine white clothes trimmed with gold stitch work frantically looked about the room until he spotted Cornelia. Now, it should also be noted that the mans pale complection was currently complemented with eye sweltering bright pink hair, Suzaku would go in so far as to call it dayglo. As he silently thanked Kami that he had missed the 1980's by a couple decades the man rushed to the table.

"SISTER! Its awful some horrible hooligan has tampered with my shampoos! I have to plan the New Years Ball with the committee today!" There was now a manic gleam in the mans eyes as he continued all on the same breath, "I can't possibly show my face like this what am I to do?!"

Cornelia, for her part looked placid but even Suzaku could tell their was mirth beneath her calm mask, placing a hand on the frantic mans shoulder she attempted to sooth him, "Don't worry Clovis, I'll take care of it why don't you see if you can make an appointment with your stylist and get this taken care of before the paparazzi catch wind?"

Ah, so this was Clovis, the Prince thanked her profusely and as suddenly as he had appeared he was gone. Turning to the now violently shaking younger royals they both exploded with pent up laughter, falling shoulder to shoulder they leaned their heads together tears of mirth rolling down their cheeks.

Cornelia shook her head smiling and let the pair vent their amusement for a bit longer.

Eventually she asked, "So, any particular reason our brother has suffered the shame of having hair pinker then his little sister?"

Sniffing indignantly Euphemia stuck her nose in the air with a light huff, "There is nothing wrong with having pink hair, that happened to be fuschia, which is just tacky, he should know better."

Lelouch nodded solemnly in agreement as he took another bite of ice cream, Suzaku decided to throw in his two pence at that bit, "All right and _why_ was his hair fuschia?"

Lelouch smirked and whispered conspiratorially, "Brother dearest _really_ should check who his Christmas presents are from before he starts mixing his new hair care products, who knows if someone would put a two step hair dye applicator and activator in his shampoo and conditioner."

With that Cornelia finally lost it and broke down into peels of laughter, once she finally got herself under control she reset herself to dignified princess mode and rose from the table.

"Well Lelouch when I had asked you to find a way to keep Clovis away from the new years ball committee I probably should have anticipated something like this. Very well you kids have no lessons for today so I've cleared you for the Knightmare sims, go enjoy your afternoon."

Once she was gone Suzaku turned to the still grinning pair and dropped his voice into a servile tone, "Please Masters, teach me your ways, allow me to become your apprentice."

Lelouch barked out a laugh while Euphia just grinned wider, since her brother was otherwise occupied she replied for them both while dropping her voice to mock serious tones.

"Yes join us young padawan and we will show you the ways of the Darkside," giving a half bow Suzaku returned the grin while thinking 'You know what, things could have been much, _much_ worse then this.'

Roughly an hour later found the trio in Lelouchs room playing with Lohengrin, the excitable pup running back and forth between Suzaku and Lelouch as they rolled a ball to each other, eventually the simple game was interrupted by Euphemia scooping the dog up and cuddling it to sleep. Leaning back Suzaku just basked in the moment of peace, it was...nice no longer having his own personal Sword of Damocles above his head, the old fable seemed like an apt comparison.

Stirring he addressed Lelouch, "So since you people are having yet _another_ ball, who are you taking?"

Looking up from the magazine he'd been thumbing through his friend gave him a lopsided smile, "Our arrival ball didn't count, that was all Clovis and I caught it on fire anyway, and thanks to that the Christmas dance was cancelled, you're welcome. Just as a heads up, there's normally only about five the entire year, expect twenty or so with Clovis here."

Suzaku grimaced at that as his friend continued, "As for who I'm escorting, Euphemia as always, it is how we avoid the...creepier denizens of the courts, you?"

Shrugging Suzaku stood up and kneeled next to Euphemia to scratch behind the passed out pups ears, "I don't know honestly, I was asked by Duke Ruben to take Milly but Milly is..."

At the mention of their mutual and dangerously perverted friend both royals straightened their backs as their eyes widened, exchanging a glance they nodded to each other, this cannot happen on his first social foray.

Clearing her throat Euphie had a suggestion, "Why not allow Baron Kururugi to escort myself while you ask to escort the Lady Stadtfeld? You two seemed to take to each other quickly. It would help solidify an alliance with her House as well as avoiding Millicent getting her hands anywhere near either of our arses." Lelouch mulled that over and smiled, hopping up he offered his hand to his sister to help her to her feet disturbing Lohengrin who let out an annoyed whine.

"Sounds like a plan dear sister, lets go hunt down Jeremiah and have him drive us over to their estate, I'd like to do this in person."

* * *

 _ **Stadtfeld Estates less then an hour later**_

If there was one skill Kallen Stadtfeld had refined to an art in her short life it was her ability to hide who she really was from the public at large, she was always courteous, always demure, and always the picture perfect Britannian Lady.

She didn't do this out of any desire to be submissive, nor to condone a repressive misogynistic system, rather her mixed heritage could have her family put under the scrutiny of the Nobility at any moment, and if they found her family wanting they would cast them down.

Add to this that her extended family had been attempting on a near constant basis to have her parents marriage nullified so her father could marry a "proper" Britannian for political reasons, as well as the half dozen assassination attempts on him it was no wonder that she did her best to blend in for her family.

Even with the new laws in place the bigotry wouldn't go away quickly, or even at all if one were to be honest with themselves, so while she was no longer legally a target Kallen would still have to play the role she detested for the foreseeable future. At this moment though she did not have to be the mask, right now she was in her home, in the family gymnasium prowling back and forth waiting for her opponent to make his move, all while the lanky red headed man in question was just standing there smiling calmly as he lazily twirled his wooden staff.

"Come on little red I told you before you gotta make the first move," Naoto drawled never losing his smile.

There was a snort from the man leaning against the far wall who added, "You'd think she was used to taking the first move, after that little stunt with her prince charming," teasing tone aside Kallen still blushed and growled a reply.

"Stay outta this Ohgi this is between me and my ugly arse brother."

The school teacher chuckled at that while Naoto gave her an exaggerated pout, "You wound me Kallen, now if- Whoa!" he exclaimed as Kallen charged forward twirling her staff around her and extending it to strike him in the sternum, the mans quick reflexes just barely saving him from a nasty bruise as he deflected the blow.

Taking advantage of his sisters position he grabbed her weapon and jammed it back out her, yelping as she twisted her head out of the way she managed to free her staff and took a swing for his knees. Much to her annoyance he managed to hop over the blow and return a strike in kind at her ankles, unable to move in time she was swept from her feet and landed rather gracelessly on her back.

"Well...shit," she muttered from the floor, laughing Naoto extended his hand helping to pull his little sister back to her feet. As she regained her balance a slow clap was heard behind her, twirling around she flushed again this time in total mortification. Leaning in the doorway next to her smiling mother was none other then Prince Lelouch, he had a bemused look about him as he finished his clapping, standing strait he walked towards the pair of redheads.

"Well Lady Stadtfeld when your lovely mother told me you were exercising I hadn't quite expected this," still too mortified to move she only let out a quiet "Meep" as the prince turned his violet gaze to her brother. Bowing lightly then offering his hand to Naoto he froze her world with a wide smile.

"Sorry introductions are in order, I am Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, and you are?"

Looking a bit nonplussed Naoto grasped his hand and shook it, "Lord Naoto Stadtfeld, first in succession to the Duke Norris Stadtfeld," Nodding to this the young prince looked over to Ohgi and raised his brows in question, the Japanese man looked like an animal caught in front of an oncoming train.

Eventually he gave a quick bow and said, "Err...umm...that is your highness...I'm a school teacher, er... Naoto's best friend, Kaname Ohgi..."

Trailing off glancing about nervously Lelouch eventually returned a formal Japanese style bow while stating, "Hajimemashite Ohgi-sensai, a pleasure to meet you."

Now being goggled at by three adults and one preteen the Prince turned back to face Kallen, "I must say initially you held my curiosity, now you hold my attention, how long have you been practicing martial arts?"

Realizing that her performance or lack of...tact hadn't scared away the prince she stammered out, "Oh umm, Naoto and daddy...err father have been teaching me since I was six, I'm much better in hand to hand but this red ape insists I learn weapons too."

Naoto let out an irritated "Hey!" at the ape comment but kept quiet otherwise, the prince nodded then suddenly as if remembering his manners he gave Kallen a courtly bow while taking her hand.

"I'm sorry to have interrupted the exercise then, now as to my reason for being here, as you are likely aware the New Years Ball is still to take place much to my consternation. Seeing as how I'm not authorized to cause any mayhem at this gathering I'd much like to escort someone who I can at the very least say is interesting."

Realizing what he was about to ask her she felt her heart skip a beat, 'Seriously just like that?' her inner fighter scolded, she of course ignored that voice as the prince continued, "So I was hoping, if you would perchance feel up to it would you do me the honor of allowing me to escort you for the evening?"

Much to her relief she managed to keep calm with her reply, "With permission from my Lady mother I would gladly take you up on that your highness."

Grinning it was as if a switch had been flipped in the Prince's mind, "Excellent! By the way please call me Lelouch that 'Highness' bunk is for those I don't consider friends, or Knights who have no idea how to relax, oi. Anyway you will be coming with myself, my sister Euphemia and my buddy Suzaku, hey if you're not too busy we're all heading over to Ashford Academy to hijack Ruben's simulator room, would you like to come with?"

Feeling a bit...railroaded she turned her wide eyes to her mother who was doing her best not to laugh, "If Naoto agrees to go with you I do not see why not dear, you have fun."

The prince's grin never left his face as he turned to the older man, "I don't mind a chaperon, heck you might find out you enjoy blowing things up, its quite cathartic, well I'll be waiting out front in the limo, oh if you want to bring Ohgi-Sensai feel free, rude to just make off with a guests hosts like that."

As Lelouch left the room whistling Naoto turned to his mother, opening his mouth and closing it a few times but not knowing what to say.

The three were left standing there as the Duchess Stadtfeld walked away laughing, Ohgi shook his head lightly and muttered, "Well...that just happened."

* * *

 _ **Ashford Academy**_

Euphemia would readily admit she wasn't quite sure what to expect when Lelouch had dragged her and Baron Kururugi off to meet the Lady Stadtfeld, but she could honestly say seeing the heavily blushing girl being escorted by a pair of gobsmacked young men into their limo was not on her list.

Suzaku though took one look at the trio and gave them a knowing wan smile, "Let me guess, you guys just got Lelouch'd yes?"

The two men nodded numbly while the girl blushed deeper, which in Euphemia's opinion was a rather impressive feat at this point, deciding to help alleviate the tension she added her opinion.

"You will eventually get used to it, the consummate politician and royal is a mask he wears well, he's more akin to..."

Trailing off she thought a moment before Lord Jeremiah spoke up from the driver seat, "He's Loki, a well intentioned Loki."

That pulled a true laugh from her, "Indeed, the trickster god is a wonderful way to describe him, although he doesn't really have jealousy issues per say," with that Suzaku coughed "Schneizal" under his breath but Euphie decided to ignore it. The redheaded male seemed to finally pull himself together and introduced his group.

After some idle chit chat the school teacher spoke up for the first time, "Err...where is the prince by the way I was under the assumption he was waiting on us not the other way arou..." he trailed off as they saw the royal in question being escorted by a pretty oriental woman towards the limo. As they reached it Lelouch gave her a bow and kissed her hand causing the woman to blush and Kallen to growl a bit.

'Feisty' both Suzaku and Euphie thought in amusement, a short moment later found Lelouch hopping into the limo smiling broadly, "That law is certainly paying dividends. Lord Naoto, Lady Kallen, your mother the Duchess is a wonderful host, I'm quite glad her position has been solidified."

Eyeing the boy wearily Naoto cautiously asked, "And what pray tell were you doing with my mother?"

Lelouch being Lelouch completely missed the undertones to the statement as he flippantly replied, "Oh I simply wanted the name of the woman who was trying so doggedly to depose her of her position as your families matriarch. Apparently it was a blonde tart from the Duchy of Illinois who is supported by a very respectable and very...financially wanting family. I already have enough dirt on her father to cause her family to lose their nobility status, I was simply wondering if your Lady mother wanted me to proceed on her behalf."

With that his smile turned feral as he glanced to Kallen, "I do hope you inherited some of your mothers calm vitriol, I would never want to mess with that woman, now what did I miss?" Naoto regained his earlier gobsmacked visage before it melted away and he burst out laughing, he lashed out and grabbed Lelouch's hand shaking it vigorously.

"Your highness, my apologies, Lelouch, thank you, you have no idea how much I wanted to smack some dignity into that who...woman, thank you." Still chuckling as he fist bumped Ohgi Lady Kallen just stared at Lelouch's satisfied smirk as he began explaining the situation to Suzaku.

It was only Euphemia who caught the redheads lips turning up into a satisfied smile as she whispered, "Loki indeed..." After a time they finally reached Ashford Academy, the strange maid from earlier in the month was awaiting them, Lelouch bowed and greeted her in Japanese and the maid returned in kind further confounding their new friends.

Soon they were being led through the facility and the Lady Kallen's excitement peaked as she began hopping on the balls of her feet, "Oh wow those aren't Glasgow's!"

Smiling the maid shook her head, "No they are not my lady, those are the new RPI-11 Sutherland Main Infantry Unit's and the RPI-13 Gloucester Close Combat Unit. We'd need another year or two to roll them out but with Baron Kururugi's test piloting we've ironed out most of the issues with the platform already."

She pointed at a trio of half finished machines, their spindly limbs still held in the claws of their manufacturing gantries, "These are Lord Rubens next pet project, the RPI-15 Nevermore, a jet fighter that can shift into a Knightmare frame."

At this even Lelouch looked excited, the boy ran up to the machines in question, Suzaku and both young ladies quickly following to ogle the lithe machines.

"Bloody awesome," Kallen breathed, Lelouch nodded in agreement as both herself and Lord Kururugi began to play rock paper scissors over who got to play with the first completed unit.

Euphemia's tunnel vision was soon shattered by a very amused cough from the maid, "The simulators are this way my lords and ladies."

After that the adults had to use the proverbial crow bar to pull the enticed preteens from the new war machines they all ended up in a large well lit room lined with Knightmare cockpits, the group soon split up and Euphemia found herself looking at a new setup.

Soon Lord Rubin's voice came from the speakers, "You are all in the new Gloucester configuration, those of you who are going to be the vanguard of the Empire best get used to it, this is what you'll be piloting for the foreseeable future." Two hours later a few things became clear, a pilot Ohgi was not, but he was a very respectable field commander, Naoto was easily Euphemia's equal in frame combat (Lelouch's secret training cessions behind Nelly's back not withstanding) and Kallen was the same unholy horror that Suzaku had proven himself to be.

As the sims wound down and cracked open the first thing Euphie saw was Lelouch's self satisfied smile as he stared at Lady Kallen's machine, before she could make a snarky comment Naoto rushed to his sister and picked her up swinging her at every angle imaginable.

"Kali you rock little sis! I had no idea you could pilot like that this is amazing!"

As the small girl was dropped back to the ground she shakily smiled to the group while shrugging her shoulders, "Daddy let me pilot one of the guards Glasgow's a few times, its always fun driving a Knightmare, its so...so..."

Lelouch walked up to her and leaned against the sims body, "Liberating?" he asked with a knowing smile, she returned it and nodded.

Before anyone could say anything else a blonde haired Indian woman rushed into the room, pointed at Kallen and yelled, "Shes mine!"

Before grabbing the now confused noble's hand and rushing off with her, it had happened so quickly that no one knew how to react. A second later a bemused grey haired man with large glasses walked into the room tailed by a pretty bluenette.

"Damn, Rakshata got to the devicer first, ah well looks like we're stuck with only Suzaku for now, come Cecile we've still got to iron out those issues in the MVS systems," and as quickly as they appeared the pair walked off.

Naoto looked left and right, slouched his shoulders then said what was on everyone's minds, "Ok...what the fuck just happened here?"

* * *

 _ **December 30 2012 A.T.B.**_

Cornelia glanced over her halfmoon glasses towards the wall of her study hearing raised voices for the umpteenth time in the past half hour, sighing she placed the documents she'd been going through on the desk and pushed herself off.

Cracking her back as she stood from the rolling chair for the first time in hours she began mumbling to herself about obnoxious kids as she exited the office and banged on Lelouch's bedroom door.

The formerly raised voices dropped quickly followed by a pensive silence.

Eventually the door cracked open and a vexed looking Suzaku smiled seeing who it was, he muttered, "Thank Kami," as he swung the door all the way open to show a half dressed Euphemia straddling Lelouch trying to force his arms into a violet suit jacket.

Meeting Suzaku's jade gaze he just shook his head before uttering, "They're your family...your highness."

Staring at the two teens for a few more seconds she groaned out, "What. Is going on."

Euphemia, probably for the first time since this little altercation started realized she wasn't wearing pants squeaked and ran into the closet, Lelouch for his part sat up grumbling about insane girls when a blushing Euphie reentered the room wearing a skirt.

Flicking her eyes to both teens she rose a single brow and waited for an answer, finally Lelouch spoke, "We were taking turns trying on outfits for the ball, she was in the middle of changing when I said I was just going to wear black as usual."

Euphemia put her hands on her hips as she scowled at her brother, "And I told him that he needs to wear something with color if he's to be escorting the Lady Stadtfeld. Seriously Lelouch I get the symbol of grieving thing but this is a very big deal for our image and her social standing, you can't dress like you are going to a funeral!"

Grumbling to himself he pulled the crumpled jacket off looking back towards Cornelia, "Anyway, we started arguing, I said she couldn't force me to do anything, and next thing I know she bolts out of the closet and tries to strangle me with formal wear. All while Suzaku" glaring at his friend a moment he continued, "Just stood there and watched."

Raising his hands he huffed out, "Hey you're both my friends and I've seen what happens when you two get riled, I didn't want to get caught in the middle of that!"

Cornelia nodded in agreement as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, she looked Lelouch up and down and sighed, "She's right Lelouch, I let it slide before because I didn't care about Clovis looking bad, this evening will reflect on us and our friends, so stop being a child and just listen to some female fashion advice.

"I swear if you didn't have Euphemia around you'd be running around with a cravat and cape, now I'm going to go finish this paperwork and you three," looking at Suzaku she shook her head and looked back to her siblings, "you two behave or I'm going to make Suzaku your babysitter."

Looking completely scandalized the pair of royals both acquired masks of betrayal as their friend broke out into laughter, after a moment he cheekily replied

"Oh I'd do it too!" Cornelia nodded as she turned around and entered the hall,

"I know you would, good man, now get yourselves organized we have dinner with the Darlton's at six," as the door closed she could clearly hear Suzaku snickering, shaking her head ruefully she slumped back into her chair and stared down at the paperwork listlessly.

Eventually she glanced to the clock and saw she had a half hour till dinner, muttering "Screw it," she opened her desk drawer and removed a bottle of brandy, filling two snifters she called out, "Guilford!" Her ever loyal knight entered the room and saw the bottle, smiling he sat down, taking one of the glasses he lifted it to his Princess as he cocked his head lightly to the side.

"What shall we toast to your highness?"

Smiling wanly she clicked their glasses together, "To having family around to drive you completely mad and entertain you on the way."

Snorting the bespectacled knight grinned and downed his drink with a "Cheers."

 _ **December 31, 2012 A.T.B**_ **.**

Lelouch fidgeted with the collar of his suit as he and Suzaku awaited their dates in the ballroom antechamber. The truly irritating thing about their social standing was having to put up with such formalities as being announced and getting gawked at like they were street performers. Gritting his teeth in an attempt to ignore the fact that he was decidedly uncomfortable in the high neck outfit he observed his friend casually leaning against the wall, for all the world looking like a bored noble in his green trimmed white outfit.

"Sometimes I forget that you had to do such events before the war, this is old hat for you just a change of venue, isn't it?"

Suzaku glanced over then nodded slightly, "Funny I was just thinking the same thing, the faces are different but it's pretty much the same thing really, a bunch of self important over entitled arses trying to network while basking in how amazing they are."

Lelouch let out a disdainful sniff at this, "Yes well, we must show how superior we are to the common rabble mustn't we?" Dropping the snooty tone as the boys exchanged a chuckle they went silent as Kallen and Euphemia entered the room, Lelouch was loathe to admit it but he felt his breath catch when he looked upon the Lady Stadtfeld.

The grin she gave him when his jaw dropped didn't help his disposition.

The scarlet dress was not in the normal formal gown style with billowing skirts, it was a slip of glittering fabric that clung to her figure hanging off her right shoulder leaving the left and her back exposed, the matching elbow length gloves and heels further adding to her allurement. Her hair was pulled up into an elaborate bun that had several lockes artfully loose to frame her face along with a light application of makeup, to put it simply she looked absolutely stunning.

"Lady Stadtfeld, as radiant as ever it would seem, it is obvious that you were able to pull yourself away from Rakshata long enough to properly prepare."

Returning the smile she nodded lightly, "Just barely your highness, she is umm...demanding...and to be perfectly honest I'm not quite sure if she is sane, the prototype she's designing involves me grabbing enemy knightmares with a giant claw and making them explode with radiation...I rather hope the cockpit is lead lined."

Chuckling Lelouch took her arm and Suzaku did the same with Euphemia who was smirking at her semi-smitten brother as Suzaku quietly complemented her midnight blue gown, Lelouch surrendered a chagrined smile as he replied.

"Trust me that was the first thing Ruben demanded when she floated the idea his way, having mad scientist's in your employ is great and all but you have to set ground rules, they tend to go a bit...barmy when you give them free reign and a blank check."

Suzaku snorted at this as he handed the courtier his announcement card, "Indeed, it took me an hour of arguing with Lloyd to get him to grasp that the emergency ejection system wasn't optional and I wouldn't be piloting it otherwise. The man is a genius but the fact he keeps calling me a "devicer" and has me listed as a KMF component in all the documentation leaves me a bit unsettled."

Euphemia sniffed a bit indignantly at this, "Indeed, personally I am looking forward to spending more time with Miss Cecile on the Nevermore project, she's far more socially acclimated then her compatriots, though truth be told that wouldn't be difficult, I think Lohengrin would have them beaten at this point."

Snorting Lelouch rolled his eyes as he handed off his card while continuing to approach the ballroom door, "Succinctly put dear sister. Before I met those two I would have never thought a pup would have more social grace then a pair of engineers, ah well at least they don't leave surprises in the corner like 'Grin does."

That earned a brief chuckle from the group as the doors swung open revealing the massive ballroom, the garland bedecked walls and prominent Christmas tree still drawing the eye to their splendor, though nothing could change the fact the place still smelled like fresh paint.

"Announcing Third Princess Euphemia li Britannia twelfth in line of succession and escort Lord Suzaku Kururugi Baron of Tokyo," the crowd turned and watched the pair gracefully walk down the stairs as they tried to keep their nervousness under wraps. This being Suzaku's first exposure to the nobility at large they had every right to be a bit apprehensive, ignoring the leers and glares from the sea of caucasion faces they were intercepted by a rather amused looking Cornelia.

The Witch of Britannia's pleasant smile towards the pair became an immediate endorsement and the halls atmosphere changed instantly, egotisticaly self entitled the nobility may be but they knew better then to cross those that the Viceroy considered friends.

As the trio stepped to the side of the grand staircase the courtier bellowed out, "Announcing Seventh Prince Lelouch vi Britannia sixth in line of succession escorting the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld second in her line of inheritance," the room watched the violet and scarlet clad pair descend the stairs as they practically radiated confidence.

Those in the room who could read body language noted both young teens had a predators gait to them as they scanned the room assessing threats and exit points, seemingly oblivious to several camera flashes they reached the bottom of the stairs and approached their compatriots.

"See I told you that suit would complement Kallen's dress," Euphemia beamed happily, Suzaku snagged a couple glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and raised his brows to Cornelia who nodded in acquiescence.

Handing one to Euphie he replied, "Oh indeed, the whole room took a breath when they saw you two enter, bit jealous really."

Kallen blushed lightly while Lelouch rolled his eyes, "Yes yes, now aren't we supposed to be socializing, pretending we care what these people think in a vain attempt to keep something resembling peace on the political field?"

Cornelia smirked at her little brothers desire to deflect attention away from his date and himself, "Note quite, the dance will start soon so there's no point in getting involved in a conversation we'd have to dismiss ourselves from."

Before she could continue this thought a tall man with long red hair approached the group, his dress uniform proudly displaying the rank of captain.

Kallen's eyes bugged a bit, "Naoto what are you doing here?"

Grinning he bowed to Lelouch, offered a nod to Suzaku and kissed all three ladies hands, "Since I came stag and snuck in with the rest of the military crowd I avoided getting announced, its the best way for me to avoid being approached with betrothal contracts."

He glanced at Suzaku and gave him a pitying look, "You won't know it for awhile but trust me, it will get very very trying on your nerves."

Gulping a bit Suzaku met Cornelia's eyes while she gave him a knowing smile, "Oh until he reaches his age of majority they all go through me, Guilford has taken to making tiny forts out of the stacks when he thinks I'm not looking."

Guffawing into their hands Lelouch and Kallen tried to cover their mirth as Suzaku flushed and Euphemia scowled, after a bit more playful banter the tempo of the band changed and central floor began clearing.

Naoto looked towards the cleared floor and then bowed to Cornelia, "Princess Cornelia would the Viceroy deign to have a dance with a lowly captain?"

Brows raising at his audacity a feral smirk curled up her lip, "No, but I'm willing to give a dashing young Duke in training the opportunity to prove himself," returning the smirk Naoto took her arm and escorted her to the dance floor.

Lelouch and Euphemia were struck silent a moment before she asked, "Did...did Cornelia just agree to dance? At her own vocation? In public?"

Lelouch mutely nodded as he watched his sister part the crowd with but a look, "Lady Kallen, your brother is either the most audacious man I've ever met or the craziest."

Kallen grinned widely as she began dragging Lelouch to follow, "Why not both? Come on I wanna see how well you can dance and I know all eyes are going to be on those two for a bit so lets use them for cover all right?"

Grinning in return he allowed her to pull him along as they were trailed by Suzaku and Euphemia the latter of which was explaining why it was such a big deal to see Cornelia acting like a lady.

"You have to understand Suzu that Cornelia is much like Lelouch's mother, she earned her position through conquest and has to have this 'woman of steel' persona around her at all times to demand respect from our rather patriarchal society. Her accepting this dance and not leading it sends the signal that she considers the mixed heritage officers and nobles as equals, more so then the traditional 'purebloods' back home."

Suzaku pulled a face at that as he shook his head, "Yeah I can see that, what's with this pureblood thing anyway 'I have an incestuous background so my weakened genetics makes me superior,' yeah, don't get it."

Shrugging she leaned into his shoulder to whisper, "There is a reason we're trying to change the way things work do recall."

Giving her a knowing smile he released her arm and bowed lightly, "My Lady, may I have this dance?" Curtsying she accepted and they joined Cornelia and Lelouch on the floor.

Cornelia had to admit, Naoto Stadtfeld was intriguing, she had honestly been a bit surprised to find out he was military like herself, when she mentioned that she hadn't seen his record when she was initially building up the garrison he chuckled sadly.

"That's because before you and your little brother pushed through the new laws I was persona non grata, never mind the five years of prior service since my mother was born Japanese I was basically barred from doing anything related to the military."

She closed her eyes and let out a quiet sigh at that, "Yes, what a waste, luckily for all of us my little brother's scheming typically has altruistic undertones; I shudder at the thought of what would happen if he went down the path of vengeance and conquest."

Naoto agreed before stating why he was there, "Not that I don't appreciate the dance, and may I say what a graceful dancer you are your highness, but the reason I'm here is actually to offer my assistance to your cause. While I've been reinstated into the military I have no assignment and while that won't last forever it gives me an opening to help those that allowed my mothers birth nation to retain its soul, even if you have no openings I understand I simply wish to make the offer."

Meeting the taller man's blue gaze she reflected that Lelouch chose a good family to get himself involved with, "I'll get in touch once I view your dossier. I'm always in the need of competent officers," grinning winningly they continued to dance for a time.

Soon the music picked up its pace and the twirling couples on the dance floor mirrored it, grinning Lelouch's eyes glittered in amusement, "Lady Kallen I must say your grace is only matched by your beauty, how long have you been practicing at this?"

Blushing while smirking she lightly smacked his shoulder causing him to grin, "Charmer, and since I was very little, my mother was actually a ballet dancer when she met my father. She took to the ballrooms as well as I do so she trained me so...so..." she cut off while Lelouch gave her a small not unkind smile.

"So no one would ever question your heritage?" She nodded quickly at this and right then the Black Prince decided he wanted to keep this girl in his life even if just as a friend.

"My mother was a commoner you know?" She met his eyes in shock as he nodded, "Indeed, she fought tooth and claw to the top of the food chain with nothing but her wits and guile, eventually she became the Knight of Two and her combat prowess earned my fathers interest.

"She...she had to deal with much prejudice as did I and...Nunnally..." Kallen kept respectfully silent as Lelouch swallowed his grief before continuing. "Anyway I know to an extent what you and your family have been through, so if you ever need to talk I'm here to listen."

Tears gathered at the corners of Kallen's eyes but she managed to blink them away, "Thank you your highness."

Grinning he gently tapped her forehead with his own, "Now now friends don't stand on formalities, just call me Lelouch ok?"

Grinning she agreed in so long as he stopped constantly calling her lady all the time which earned her a laugh, eventually as the dance called for a partner swap off Lelouch found himself holding Suzaku who looked flabbergasted. Features schooling into a scowl Lelouch glanced to his sister who was laughing loudly leading a bemused Kallen away.

Realizing what happened Suzaku shook his head and smirked at his friend, "I'll have you know I only put out after the third date," Suzaku stated flatly.

Lelouch looked at his grinning visage in shock for a few moments before busting out into laughter, returning the smirk he nodded, "You're at least going to have to buy me dinner first, so what do you think the tabloids will capitalize on first, my sister taking interest in a certain red haired man or that we're suddenly poofters?"

Allowing Lelouch to twirl him to the giggles of the surrounding girls Suzaku shrugged, "Probably both, next spin off is coming up, if you don't mind I'd rather we didn't repeat this."

Agreeing Lelouch immediately re-entered his comfort zone as Kallen ended back up into his arms.

"That young lady was uncalled for," grinning she winked at him with a wry grin,

"Aw come on, you should have seen the look on your faces, the Viceroy nearly fell over laughing if my brother hadn't caught her," shaking his head in amusement the song wound down and he offered his arm to Kallen. Escorting her off the floor he made his way to the refreshments followed by Suzaku and Euphemia, unfortunately waiting for him was the bane of his existence,

"Oh Lulu you looked so dashing out there with that hunky young Baron, if I'd known you swung that way I'd have brought a camera!"

Lelouch closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he turned to his best friend, "Hello Milly, having a pleasant evening?"

The blond grinned, her periwinkle gown sparkling lightly as she shifted her posture, "Oh yes Lulu, quite fun. Now imagine my shock when I find out my dear friend Kallen was being escorted by my dear friend Lelouch to a ball neither wanted to go to, and to top it off you both look so...happy!"

Dropping the flippantly amused tone she gave both her friends a warm smile, "I'm glad you two get along, you've both had it hard, you're good for each other." Neither knew how to handle this as the blonde sauntered off, more then likely to go embarass people she didn't particularly like.

"Did...did we just get some odd Milly blessing?" Kallen asked incredulously, Euphemia sipped from her drink a moment before nodding slowly in turn.

"I think you did, anyway it's getting late why don't we head to the sitting the room and wait for the evening to die down, I don't know about the rest of you but my feet are killing me after all that dancing," they all agreed and went to find a bit of privacy having no idea the PR coup they had accidentally pulled off.

 _ **January 1, 2013 A.T.B.**_

Emperor Charles zi Britannia was doing the one thing he despised more than playacting a heartless dictator, the paperwork involved with said playacting. Grimacing as he threw another form into the out basket a large colorful magazine displaying his offspring, namely Lelouch and Euphemia, with some other teens was tossed onto his desk.

Glancing to his right he saw the petite form of young Anya grinning at him. It really did honestly freak him out when the child displayed his wive's, Marianne's, facial expressions, leaning against the desk his disembodied wife began chattering.

"So, our son has done it again, he and his sister escorted the former Prime Minister of Japan's son and a Britannian halfblood to the ball last night, they were noted to be having fun and even had the girls mess with them by tricking the boys to dance together. Now the real coup de grace to their being nothing between my boy and the Stadtfeld girl is this is the first time he's been seen in public wearing color in two years, my little boy is growing up!"

Hearing all of this in a squeaky child's voice just further wierded Charles out, but alas lack of options, "Indeed dear, he is making important allies and business deals all the while garnering public support, I wouldn't be shocked if he took a shot at the throne in the next decade or so, if our plans fall through I just may allow it."

Chirping happily Marianne/Anya hopped into his lap further making things awkward, thankfully he had some morals and self control, "That'd be amazing Chuck! But really I don't think the kids realized what a boon this will be for them, the world over will see them as progressives and the youth will be pining after them and their friends, once the current generation dies off well...equality can't be that bad can it?"

Patting his wife/ward on the head he placed her back on the ground, "Indeed not, Lelouch and Euphemia have impressed me greatly, lets give them a few years to mature before we make any decisions, without C.C.'s help we cannot continue with the plan as it is so we'll consider our son a contingency plan."

Grinning happily Marianne skipped out of the room leaving Charles to his thoughts, "What will the future hold for you my son?"

 _ **February 27, 2013 A.T.B.**_

Clovis was not in a good mood, not in the slightest, his social standing had fallen to record lows, his allowance barely covered his preferred lifestyle, and his position as the deputy to his sister offered limited power, in a word he was in a rut. So when he had been contacted by one of the few men on this cursed chain of isles solely loyal to him he deigned it necessary to meet up with the man. General Bartley saluted his prince as he entered the secure facility, waving it off he stated in a bored tone,

"Why am I here general?" Nodding grimly to the prince the general led him deeper into the facility, after a few secure checkpoints he found himself in an observation lounge viewing a beautiful young woman with lime green hair, cocking an eyebrow at the general he motioned to a guard who shot the restrained woman in the head."

"O...k... I really don't see the point of wasting a perfectly good lady like that, what are you doing here Bartley?" The man remained silent as he kept staring at the propped up body, sighing Clovis turned back to the window to see the hole in her head seal and for her to jerk back up glaring at the window. Gasping Clovis stood and stared at the woman for a solid five minutes before stating, "Whatever you need general...it's yours."


	5. Cause and Effect, Along With Just Awards

**Merging multiple chapters while reformatting the _lack_ of grammar is a bitch, but I think I've finally made some headway in this. Hopefully this redux version gets a few more follows before next update, because I think I'll be hitting new content in about a chapter or two. Anyway, love to all ya all, and thanks for enjoying something I pour my limited free time into, it's always nice knowing people appreciate your efforts.**

* * *

 **April 3, 2015 A.T.B.**

Kyoshiro Tohdoh walked down the rough hewn stone corridors of the Japanese Liberation Front's most secure fortress with an angered stride, while a severely disciplined man even he had to have outlets to his inner rage.

Britannia had done it again, they'd conquered another sovereign land and they'd used _his_ Japan as the staging point for their war, if one could even call it that. Gritting his teeth Nagisa glanced over in worry as she noticed her commanders uncharacteristic display of emotion, his gray eyes shifted to her gaze and he let his jaw relax to soften the lines of his face a bit to put the woman at ease. Nodding she refrained from comment as they barged into the Command Information Center of the Narita Mountain JLF facility,

"What has happened," he stated in a clipped tone, all in the room stood and bowed in respect to the 'Tohdoh of Miracles', Kami he hated that title. Sure he had kept the island of Itsukushima secure against the Britannian invasion but ultimately it fell just like the rest of Japan. Sighing General Katase gave him a reserved nod as he motioned towards the display map, the man was never one for extended speeches, one of the many reasons Tohdoh liked the aged officer.

"The Black Prince and the Witch pulled off quite the coup, somehow they arranged for China to invade Korea using their third and seventh army groups, since no one was expecting it they took most of the north within days."

The images changed showing icons defining specific Korean army movements, "The Koreans managed to counterattack pushing most of the invasion force back to the border...they scrounged every piece of armor they had, tank, Knightmare, gunship, didn't matter, aside from a defense force in Seoul they sent them all to the front line."

He sighed as the image changed again displaying three enoromous groups of ships along the Korean coast, Tohdoh rubbed his eyes in exhaustion when he noticed what they signified, Colonel Kusakabe picked up the debrief from there,

"The Britannian forces led by Princess Cornellia, Prince Lelouch, and General Stadtfeld invaded with the First Japanese Army broken into three groups, the Black Prince and his experimental Knightmare division took Seoul without major loses mostly thanks to the new Nevermore units. Korea's limited defenses were overrun before the regulars even hit the bulwarks...not enough close in weapon systems to take care of the transforming frames." Sighing he rubbed the bridge of his nose, gesturing to the other two army groups he continued sounding broken as he did so.

"The Witch came up from the south and took over Busan without much of fight, with almost all armed forces involved in the counter attack against China she faced no resistance as she marched north, The Crimson Star followed in sync from the southeast and once they met up with the Black Prince's forces they pushed the remaining Korean army towards the Chinese. It was a rout, the Chinese army groups and most of the Korean standing army ground each other to dust and the survivors soon fell to the Britiannians in less than a week..."

Tohdoh sighed as he glared down at the map, the idea his fellow countrymen had conquered a nation in the name of Britannia sickened him beyond words, looking up to the General he met the mans flinty gaze before speaking.

"We need to fortify, with Korea now taken the Demons of Conquest will focus on domestic insurgents...I fear we are going to be but a foot note in the chronicles of Britannia's conquests at this point..."

Nodding slowly Katase fell into his chair before tiredly stating, "We need to increase our Knightmare forces, without our own development team we are going to be forced to use only what Kyoto can give us...Tohdoh I want you to be in charge of the ramping up of our forces, with the new laws allowing all who serve a short term of service to earn citizen status we have very little to counter Britannia's recruiting system. Your name is basically all we have to absorb the young into our numbers..."

Tohdoh sighed at this, the young, the blind, and the foolish he reflected, bowing he spun on his heel and marched out of the room.

"We stand no chance of survival, you're aware of this correct?" His tone brokered no argument as his eyes once again met those of Nagisa, her gray gaze didn't shift in the slightest as she nodded in turn.

"I'm aware Tohdoh-sama," smirking darkly he nodded quickly, well if she realized that truth at least it would make their last stand more interesting when it came, for now he had defenses to plan.

* * *

Fifteen year old Lelouch vi Britannia was exhausted.

Lohengrin was fitfully sleeping at his right, head resting on his master's lap as Euphie drooled on his left shoulder. Turning his amethyst gaze to his lovely sister he couldn't help but smirk at the undignified position the warrior princess had left herself in. Korea had been nasty, while his plans to conquer the country with limited bloodshed had worked out he'd had a hell of a time coordinating the Japanese elements of his invasion force with those from the homeland.

Thank the skies above for the force of nature known as Cornelia li Britannia, she had taken charge of the hastily thrown together army and spearheaded the invasion while tutoring Lelouch, Euphemia, Kallen, and Suzaku at the same time. The Lancelot Club and Gurren Mk 1 had proven their worth as well as Euphemia's Morgana aerial assault frame, Lelouch had been content to pilot his stalwart Gloucester and had managed to earn twenty-seven kills in the invasion of Seoul.

All this being said conquering a nation in two months was impressive as hell, using a largely volunteer army made up of forces from a recently vanquished area certainly added to the luster of the campaign despite the altruistic reasons for it.

Euphemia's idea had been fairly simple hence the brilliance involved in it, the Elevens were given the option to enlist and after a four year term of service and a single successful campaign conquering a nation in the name of Britinnia the soldier in question and their family earned full citizen status. Coupled with the fact that the first nation they had their eyes on being one Japan had a historical issue with and you have yourself a recipe for a massive surge in recruitment.

That was fine, that was dandy, unfortunately Lelouch's dear sister was horrible at logistics and left most of it to Lelouch to deal with and whinging accomplished nothing since Cornelia simply laughed calling it a "learning experience." So he had to deal with this added distraction on top of what he already had to take care of for his prong of the invasion.

Snorting he began to stroke his sisters cheek absently as she whimpered in her sleep, grimacing at what the pinkette had to do in the name of peace he pulled her closer shifting the dog from his lap. Letting out an annoyed huff Lohengrin lifted his head and hopped down from the couch allowing the princess to take his place, as she sighed in satisfaction Lelouch took a thin cigar out of his jacket and bit the tip off.

Jamming the stick of tobacco between his teeth he lit it with his mothers zippo as he stared out the wide window of the G-1 Base, the fields of burning armor and clouds of Nevermore Knightmares and Trident air superiority fighters darkened the skies of his new domain.

Smirking he let a puff of smoke escape his lips as he muttered, "Hail to the king..."

* * *

Clovis la Britannia glowered out the window of his Penthouse suite as he sipped the glass of cognac in his hand, gently twirling the chilled liquid he ran his free hand through his lank hair and sighed in exhaustion. For the past four months he'd been in control of Area 11 while Cornelia led the invasion of Korea, while that may normally not have been a daunting task since he'd performed his duties as Sub-Viceroy on more than one occasion this had been different.

Before he could count on the advice and help of either Cornelia's chief of staff General Darlton or his little brother Lelouch and the disturbingly insightful group of youngsters he surrounded himself with. That wasn't the case now though, The Witch had taken almost everyone capable of waging war with her leaving only Lelouch and Euphemia's knights Jeramiah and Villetta behind much to their consternation. The royals arguments that they needed their most loyal to maintain their affairs only annoyed the pair further, honestly Clovis couldn't blame them who wanted to wade through paperwork when there was conquest and glory on the horizon?

Sighing he placed the now empty glass down and began pacing, his pet project was again running out of funding and that was the true source of all his stress, maintaining a secret facility where he was having a beautiful immortal tortured in the name of science was hard at the best of times. Only being the Sub-Viceroy heavily limited his ability to move resources about and the fact that General Stadtfeld had a habit of running surprise audits didn't help in the slightest, he had to roll his eyes at the thought of the red haired half breed.

Cornelia's dalliance with the man was quite possibly the worst kept secret in Area 11 but it was also the most useless bit of gossip, the General had clawed his way up to his current rank through his own talents and anyone who had to deal with the young man knew to never underestimate him.

Clovis ground his teeth at that thought, Bartley had gotten himself demoted to Colonel than Lieutenant Colonel for repeatedly disrespecting the half-blood bringing further attention to their project.

Worst still it wasn't even Cornelia or that up jumped eleven Baron that had caused the demotion but rather his beloved little brother Lelouch who reacted to all acts of discrimination with disgust, anyone who spent five minutes with the young man realized this.

"Everyone but Bartley," he sighed out in annoyance, bonelessly falling into his chair he began to fill out paperwork in a mindless haze when he noticed a folder sitting on the corner of the desk. Recognizing it as the weekly report from his spy in Duke Ashford's organization Clovis absently plucked it up and spread the documents out before him. It didn't take long to realize he'd hit the jackpot, what Lelouch was having developed behind everyone's backs was startling but at the same time not all that surprising.

Laughing gently he twirled a loose lock of his hair absently as he thumbed through the black and white photos, "So little brother, developing a flying warship, how... _you_. Hmm...the Avalon, something tells me that is the development heads hubris in naming it and not your own..." Tapping his fingers against the photos Clovis balanced the pros and cons of revealing this to Schneizel, yes Lelouch would be losing a resource but the leak couldn't be brought back to himself so...

Coming to a decision he scooped up the stack of documents and put them through the fax machine, after they were sent he shredded the documents and threw the remains in the dust bin. Staring at the shredded paper a moment he took the bin into the bathroom and threw the mass into the cast iron tub, pulling out a gas lighter he lit the shreds and waited until they were nothing but ashes. Turning the shower on he allowed the ashes to wash down the drain as he sprayed air freshener about the room, after all this was done he reentered his office in a rather jovial mood.

Some may call him paranoid, those who would had never been present when Lelouch vi Britannia lost his temper, it was best to leave no evidence what so ever. Around mid afternoon he recieved a text on his cell, flipping it open he grinned when he saw the amount of zeros on the bank transfer, his big brother was always reliable like that.

* * *

Cornelia li Britannia was exhausted and annoyed, she'd forgotten, or rather more likely _forced_ herself to forget about what followed the conquest of a new territory. All three of her charges as well as their friend Lady Stadtfeld were throwing her mutinous looks from the other side of the aisle, sighing she couldn't blame them at all really. Naoto took her hand and gave it a squeeze causing her to give him a rare warm smile, turning to look out the jet liners window she watched the desert landscape of Arizona pass by as they approached Pendragon.

Four years of planning, two months of war, and three months of establishing control, that's what it took to take over Korea with almost no losses, and how were they to be rewarded?

A ball.

A bloody ball, the thing she and her charges had been activally avoiding for years and of course it had to be held in the bloody capital on bloody Foundation Day in the middle of bloody July. Yes...her four ace pilots had a right to be annoyed, her train of thought was interrupted as their approach to the capital was announced on the loud speakers.

Sighing she tuned to the four teenagers who were quietly talking amongst themselves and she felt a pang of regret seeing the hardened looks in their eyes, violet, emerald, and sapphire, each held a killers glint now.

Putting those dark thoughts aside she focused on Kallen's rather animated tirade, "-and don't be fooled for a second when we get there Suzu, Pendragon is a layer city just like Tokyo but it's been around for a century so it's more established. It may _feel_ like the climates nice but the moment you leave the city limits you're very, _very_ quickly reminded it's a bloody desert."

Lelouch and Euphemia nodded in agreement before Euphie spoke up, Cornelia couldn't help but feel a surge of pride at the strong tones of her little sister, much like her elder sister the young pinkette had earned her title on her first campaign and unlike Cornelia it was something she was proud of.

"Don't get me wrong, the city is beautiful, father has gone to extreme efforts to make sure there are no slums and incredibly low crime rates, it's just a bit..." the Valkyrie of Seoul fumbled for words before her half brother took up the line of thought.

"It's sterile, the entire city has this unlived in feeling which is honestly a bit creepy considering the size of the population," he was tapping his chin thoughtfully not noticing Cornelia staring at him. He'd entered the Korean theater as the 'Black Prince', now his men, his enemies and the press called him either the 'Black King', or the 'Demon Prince', considering the redhead holding his hand and her own moniker Cornelia would personally go with the former rather then the latter.

Kallen gave her boyfriend a wry look as she shook her head, her crimson locks swaying back and forth as she quipped, "Just like the rest of Britannia Suzu, it's flashy, soulless, and a bit ostentatious, but unlike back home you can't hop in the Lancelot and blow shite up to vent your frustration."

The 'Red Queen' snickered as the 'White Reaper' blanched. Suzaku ran his hands through his hair slowly before groaning out, "I thought you guys were supposed to reassure me, what kind of friends are you?"

The other three chorused, "Realists," before dissolving into laughter earning a wry grin from the Japanese lord.

Naoto turned to Cornelia grinning amiably, "I think I'm rather proud of those four, how about you?" Smirking at the redhead she pecked him quickly on the lips before dropping her head on his shoulder,

"Incredibly, more than I could ever imagine... not to change the subject but do you honestly think the Captain can handle being in charge of Area 15?" Naoto shrugged his un-Cornelia'd shoulder before responding,

"Ohgi's an amazing chief of staff and the rest of the Black Knights respect him, Lelouch chose his officers well and I don't foresee any problems outside of both he and Villetta wanting to strangle Lelouch for keeping them apart even longer than they originally thought."

Cornelia snorted at that rolling her eyes at Area 11's odd couple, she didn't even want to get into the dynamics of what brought those two together, her nose crinkled in a fashion that Naoto thought was cute but wisely kept to himself before she replied.

"You didn't leave Tamaki there did you?" His grimace was lost to her as the plane touched down, still he did need to give her a response, sweeping his free hand through his long hair in a practiced movement the General sighed slowly.

"Yeah, I did, Inoue was not amused but you know how she is, pure logistics she just can't stand the chaos that buffoon drags along with him, but he's one of our best field commanders so what can you do? Better in Korea than the whore houses of Tokyo."

Cornelia snorted at that, "I figured you'd say something classy like a Burlesque House or the such," Naoto laughed loudly at that gaining the teens attention.

Shaking his head while rubbing his thumb along Cornelia's hand he drawled, "If I were to try and for instance introduce Lelouch and Suzaku to the wonders of a well endowed woman I'd take them to a Burlesque House with your permission of course, Tamaki doesn't rate that, seriously, if he can't find a whore house he'll just find whores and make do at a bus stop."

Only getting part of the conversation Euphemia and Kallen turned to glare at their boyfriends who both had gone white as sheets, Cornelia restrained the snicker that wanted to bubble out, gods be good did she love her little dysfunctional family.

* * *

Lelouch led his friends down the jetliners staircase, the dry Arizona wind causing his black cape to billow behind him, he grimaced at that thought and reflected on the intelligence of sticking to his color scheme in the hot July sun. He, Kallen, Euphemia, and Suzaku all wore uniforms identical to the Knights of the Round but rather than stark white and gold the base uniform was charcoal gray with silver trim, Suzaku had taken to wearing an ashen green cape, Kallen red, and Euphemia white.

In short, they looked impressive as hell, whistling quickly Lohengrin soon padded out of the plane following his master, smirking he scratched the large dog behind his ears as he excitedly sniffed at the ground, making sure his Webely was secure in its holster he quickly caught up to his elder sister.

"So sister dear what is the first order of business?"

Grimacing his favorite big sister glared up at the midday sun before grousing, "Getting into a halter top and a mini-skirt...either that or an air conditioned pub."

Naoto grinned widely at that, "Why not both! We can even blame the alcohol for forgetting to show up to the festivities!"

Much to Lelouch's surprise Cornelia looked very tempted before she dropped her head and sighed slowly, "Father would just send someone to find us, I figure he'd assume we'd do something like that regardless very little surprises that man."

Euphemia snorted behind them before she threw out, "There _is_ a reason he's Emperor after all."

Not really having anything to say to that they remained silent as they all filed into the awaiting limo, Lohengrin needing no encouragement to dive into the air conditioned cabin thankfully. The drive to the Imperial Palace passed without event, as they rolled up to the main stairs Lelouch felt his throat tighten slightly as the memories of his dead family unjustly invaded his mind, his hands were quickly taken from his lap and each held in a warm grasp.

Looking up he turned to his left and right meeting the caring gazes of both Euphie and Kallen, smiling sadly he simply whispered, "Thank you," before reclaiming his hands and followed Cornelia out of the limo. Suzaku was stretching a bit as he muttered about cramped spaces not being worth dealing with if he wasn't allowed to blow things up, the three teens behind him could only agree.

The procession made their way up the marble stairs, the stark white stone reflecting the heat and light of the unrelenting sun.

Suzaku pulled at his collar as he asked, "Why exactly is our capital in the middle of the desert?"

Lelouch shrugged but Euphemia gave an actual answer, "Long story made short? After France tried to commit genocide against Great Britain the survivors wanted the new capital far away from the east coast in an area that would be difficult to invade. Originally Pendragon was actually named Phoenix but the country planners realized that it's location was perfect, a desert environment with easy access to water for the city itself and no real means for an invading force to resupply, that's why there is so few cities surrounding the capital actually. Everything about Britannia is about survival, I think that's part of the reason we're so hell bent on conquering the world, fear that someone will finish what Napoleon started."

As the group made their way through the foyer a booming voice announced, "Well said my daughter, well said indeed! Welcome my children, you've done your father proud."

The group paused in wide eyed shock as they noticed Charles zi Britannia standing before them, or rather casually leaning against a marble pillar a half eaten apple in his hand. Finishing the piece of fruit core and all he casually wiped his mouth as he approached the group, as one they threw their right fists to their hearts while bowing.

"Hail Your Majesty!"

Lelouch wasn't shocked at all when the Emperor rolled his eyes, "Yes yes, lets get moving shall we?"

As he led the group of royals and nobles Lelouch walked to his fathers side while catching his eye, the old man gave Lelouch a small smirk and a raised brow which earned him a cheeky grin in return, "A bit informal are we not father?"

Charles shrugged at this as he scratched Lohengrin's head, "The one amazing thing about Foundation day is that the press is focused so completely on the celebration that no one pays attention to the Royal Family until the ceremonies begin. So I'll take advantage of the one day a year I may show affection to the few of my children that have not only impressed me but have earned my respect."

Turning to meet Cornelia and Euphemia's eyes he nodded once before looking forward once again, "All three of you have done the Empire proud, so tell me how _did_ you get the Chinese to invade Korea like that?"

Much to the Emperor's amusement all four teens chorused, "Blackmail of course!"

He let out a single barking laugh at that as he shook his head, "Lelouch I'd like a word with you alone, the rest of you enjoy the stay, and-" turning to Suzaku and Kallen he let his hard violet gaze soften a bit, "-you two don't let anything I say during the ceremony bother you, we're all but actors on a stage and I must play my part."

Both nobles gulped silently at being addressed directly by their Emperor as they quickly bowed and followed Cornelia and Euphie out of the room, as they left Charles pulled a thin cigar out of a silver case and deftly cut the tip off with a pen knife. Handing the cigar to his son Charles repeated the process for himself and Lelouch lit both with Marianne's lighter, Lelouch followed the towering figure through his office to the inner gardens before they both relaxed next to the fountain.

Lelouch stared at the rippling water remembering fondly the days he, Nunnally, and Euphemia would play in the Aries Palace fountains. Standing there silently next to the man who he had five years prior despised with every fiber of his being, yet had grown to love, the young man couldn't help but laugh lightly.

Quirking a single brow towards the boy who had become the perfect reflection of all his parents best and worst attributes Charles waited patiently for his son to speak, after exhaling a puff of smoke the grinning ravenette met his fathers eyes.

"It is truly a strange world we live in is it not father?"

Getting his meaning clearly Charles nodded slowly as he let the smoke of his cigar fill his lungs, "You're my pride and joy Lelouch. Marianne would be so proud of you, but I must warn you that you've made many enemies during your ascension, I doubt you are blind to this fact though, you are no dullard after all."

Nodding Lelouch lifted his foot and put the cigar out on the heel of his boot tossing the butt aside, there was a reason they had servants after all, "I'm constantly having to deal with potential threats father so have no worries there, although I hear from one of my informants Schneizal found out about the Avalon, I'm sure he'll be demanding I turn it over to him some time tonight."

Snorting Charles mirrored Lelouch's actions than began walking, obediently his son followed as well as his large dog, "He didn't find out about the _Dreadnought,_ or the other Logres hulls though, did he?"

Snorting in turn and briefly looking like a very young Charles Lelouch threw the old man a fond smile, "Of course not, I didn't plant one of his informants in that ship yard after all."

Laughing a bit Charles patted Lelouch's shoulder fondly, "You are an interesting young man my son, so tell me of this Stadtfeld girl, what does she mean to you?"

Shrugging uncomfortably Lelouch tried to look anywhere but into his fathers eyes, "Err... well we go to school together, and her brother is one of Cornelia's flag officers-"

Charles smirked as he interrupted the boy, "And her lover, don't forget that bit."

Blushing Lelouch nodded quickly, "Right that too. Anyway she's a brutal pilot, the apex of combat pragmatist, watching her move the Guren is like watching a ballet performance, she's...she's..."

Looking serious suddenly his father nodded slowly, "She's your Marianne."

Lelouch remained silent for a moment as he finally met his fathers gaze, "She is."

It was a simple statement that carried the weight of a thousand worlds, Charles threw an arm around his sons shoulders and pulled the tense teen close as he whispered,

"Well...than we best make sure your enemies all die before they realize this, yes?"

Looking up at the Emperor fondly the violet eyed young man nodded slowly, "Yes, Your Majesty."

* * *

 **Complete bastard ruler, caring father Charles is honestly one of my favorite characters to write, can't wait for him and Lelouch to bond over a drink or six later on.**


	6. Ingenius Little Siblings and Their Plots

_**The last recycled chapter, with some elements of Nil thrown into it. Oh yeah, yaoi and yuri elements will be part of this, don't hate.**_

 _ **Please enjoy and review.**_

* * *

 _ **August 22, 2015**_

Foundation Day was quite possibly the closest thing to a 'Holy Day' that the Holy Empire of Britannia ever actually endorsed, the part of Lelouch that was truly proud of his heritage before Charles mucked everything up held it in the same reverence as his countrymen and for good reason.

The Empire of France led by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte had somehow managed to assassinate Admiral Nelson shortly before the decisive Battle of Trafalgar leaving an inexperienced second in charge leading to Great Britain's greatest and most costly navel defeat in her grand history. The bloody French invaded the Empire Proper less than a week after the defeat of her Majesties Navy...than...than everything went to hell.

The invasion force split into three prongs, the southern most army invaded Canterbury and the northernmost hit Newcastle, the central force landed just south of Hull, that army marched inland and soon besieged York; the defenders held fast but the French had no issues burning the city to the ground and slaughtering every man woman and child loyal to Queen and Country.

Canterbury fell in short order and soon began the march towards London as the French navy fought its way up the River Thames, all that can be said in Britain's favor was that London did not fall quietly into the night; her Royal Majesties surviving naval forces chocked the water of their falling Empires capital with the blood and bloated bodies of the invaders and held the line allowing as many civilians to escape as possible.

It was not enough, it was never enough, soon after the capital fell to the torch and Queen Elizabeth was spirited off to Edinburgh, whence roving parties of Napoleon's grand army burned their way across England, Wales, Scotland, and soon Ireland. Cornered the deposed Queen signed the "Treaty" of Edinburgh, and those that had survived the genocide perpetuated by the French fled to the colonies across the sea, Napoleon feeling himself a benevolent dictator allowed the survivors to flee to languish in their dishonored defeat, he would not live long enough to realize his folly.

It is _not_ wise to so insult the British and expect them to accept what had befallen them, hundreds of ships brought the broken remnants of the once grand Empire to the shores of the Americas bellowing songs of vengeance for the honored fallen.

Upon her death bed the Queen declared her long time friend and lover Ricardo Von Britannia her successor and once her funeral was over with the enraged Knight declared himself the First Emperor of Britannia on August 22, 1867 and so began the birth of the greatest Imperium the race of man had ever witnessed.

That was the birth of his linage, that was the birth of his blood right, and he would hold fast to those values for the rest of his life.

The Prince was sure of this.

* * *

A blonde man leaned casually on the upper balconies of the grand ballroom of the Imperial Palace, the beauty of the finely polished hardwood floor and delicate chandeliers hanging from the glittering ceiling were all but lost to the ostentatious grandeur of the gold gilded wall paneling. Schneizel el Britannia was rather fond of the room, several of his best memories from his early childhood were of flitting about the elegant ladies and dapper gentlemen as they spun to the bands tune as his friends tried to catch him. He grimaced and pinched the bridge of his nose, his friends. They were almost all dead no thanks to the Empire's brutal expansionism, Marcus had died taking Area 10, Julie in Area 12, both brutally butchered by their savage captures.

The only one left was Kanon, _his_ Kanon, and while his lover was safe at his side now rather then gallivanting across the globe at his fathers whim and ending up dead in a ditch there was so many more like him that weren't protected. Taking a sip of his wine he watched a particular couple as they grinned at each other twirling about the floor, pink and black hair flying loose as they laughed.

Sighing again he refilled his glass before muttering, "Lelouch...Euphemia..."

It hurt, it truly hurt that he had lost his little brother and sister to his fathers machinations, they were now cogs in the machine as guilty as any of the rest of the Royal Family. They thought they were bringing change with their new laws, but sadly they weren't. It was simply slipping silk gloves on blood stained iron hands, and the cycle of violence would never end; once the entirety of the world was under Britannian control there would only be one enemy left...and chaos would follow it's defeat.

"Your Highness?" Kanon asked sounding somewhat concerned, he turned to the man and smiled affectionately as he tipped the glass back and finished it in a single swallow, his boyfriend crossed his arms and lifted a single brow before stating, "That was rather uncouth of you My Lord, what is wrong?"

Smiling Schneizel walked through the curtains where no one could see him and gave Kanon a quick kiss before he quiekly continued walking, obediently the rose-gold haired man followed undoubtedly rolling his eyes in the process as was his wont.

"I'm concerned for the future my friend, my little brother has caused an upheaval of my plans and I cannot find it in myself to hate him for it, He truly believes what he is doing will make the world right, and it breaks my heart that it will eventually turn us against each other." Kanon needed no explanation as to who he was referring to, being perfectly blunt Schneizel only cared about four of his siblings, ironically the boy in question felt the same only with Schneizel in his place.

"Lelouch will learn Your Highness, he has to, and if I may say so he's quite brilliant, he has all of his mothers best qualities and, well..."

Schneizel sighed at that before continuing for him, "And all of my fathers, the problem is when you combine that level of cunning and ruthlessness you get someone who thinks perhaps being a benevolent dictator isn't so bad, but as they say..."

Kanon nodded slowly before whispering, "The path to hell is paved in good intentions..." Kanon being who he was grabbed his lovers sleeve and dragged him into a sideroom, slamming the door shut he pushed the blonde against the wall as his blue eyes gleaned with inner fire.

"Do not tell me you are going to try and off your little brother Schneivel el Britannia, you adore that boy _AND_ your sisters, I know you think the weight of the world is on your shoulders but you will never forgive yourself if you end up getting Lelouch, Cornelia, Euphemia, or Maribelle killed."

Sighing Schneizel dropped his head resting it on Kanon's shoulder, "He's carving his own Empire in the east, give him a few more years and he'll have more political clout than father himself, the boy is just not cold enough to wield that kind of power, I find myself in a quandary love...what do I do?"

Sighing Kanon pulled Schneizel into a hug before calmly stating, "Do as you planned, take as many of his toys as you can while offering him carrots, he's too much like you to react to the stick in any other manner then defiance, after Damocles is finished he'll have to see it your way, don't sully your hands with the blood of your family dear."

Letting out a long held breath Schneizel nodded slowly, "Very well, we'll get this Avalon from him before he does something stupid with it, and once we reverse engineer its lift systems we can move on with the plan," nodding happily Kanon gave him a kiss then opened the door.

"And so it will be Your Highness, shall we?" As they finally reached the ground floor Schneizel didn't bother to hide the lopsided grin that forced it's way to his lips as he saw Lelouch and Lord Kururugi swap off their dance partners, the moment the red haired girl ended up in his arms his posture changed. It was subtle, his shoulders squared, his back straightened, and the hard glint in those violet eyes sweeping across the room became challenging,

"An alpha protecting his mate," he whispered into Kanon's ear who chuckled and nodded at the comment, approaching the edge of the dance floor Schneizel tilted his head as he caught his little brothers attention. Lelouch gave him a rather jaunty wave and finished his dance, hooking his arm through the Lady Stadtfeld's he escorted her to a man with similiarly colored hair that Schneizel could only assume was her brother, the rather infamous Naoto Stadtfeld and made his way over to Schneizel.

"Hello big brother, hiya Kanon, how are you two doing? Finally pop the question? I mean really dating ten years is just...well it's cute honestly but really he needs to make an honest man out of you Schneizel." Point one for the cheeky teenager earning his affection, he was well aware of his older brothers preferences and didn't care in the slightest, clearing his throat Schneizel lifted a brow at the same moment both he and Lelouch grabbed a glass off a passing waiters tray.

"You know that's not possible little brother, it would be...frowned on..." Lelouch grimaced as he took a sip from his glass, after tasting it himself Schneizel wondered if the reaction was due to his statement or the terrible wine.

"Well when I take over the world that sort of thing is going out the door immediately, if nothing else I look forward to the backwards old fools floundering about as they try to find a way to reverse it..." Lelouch's eyes brightened as he pulled out a notepad and quickly scribbled in it, "Actually adding that to the bucket list, ought to be funny."

Both men laughed at the teens actions as Kanon spoke up, "Well as always Your Highness I appreciate your support."

Lelouch pulled a face at this before waving his hand off to the side, "Kanon you're practically my uncle and you've been glued to my big brothers side since...forever really, so just please call me Lelouch."

Smiling he nodded slowly in response before giving the teenager a half grin, "Well that wouldn't be proper now would it Your Highness?"

Throwing his arms out in exasperation he turned back to the equally amused Schneizel, "Your subordinate is being insubordinate, I just thought I'd make you aware of this. Anyway I know you're not here to congratulate me on my successful campaign since you didn't want me going to Korea to begin with, is there something else going on?"

Point two in his favor, the boy couldn't be fooled with simple platitudes, sighing Schneizel jerked his head quickly towards one of the many private rooms lining the ball room. Lelouch nodded and quickly waved to Cornelia letting her know where he was moving off to, as they entered the room all three men relaxed and Lelouch threw himself into one of the high backed leather chairs.

Lelouch kicked his legs up on the table while giving the older men a wide grin waiting for him to speak, his brother did not disappoint.

"I rather like the uniforms you chose for your force, The Black Knights I believe is what you called your division?" Lelouch turned to Kanon and then his brother before nodding slowly.

"Yup, well the entire Japanese army is called the Black Knights, Kallen and Euphemia came up with it, black sheep, knight errant and all that, I felt it fit so rolled with it, though technically the four of us are the 'Knights of the Apocalypse'."

Surprised Schneizel gestured towards the teen, "What made you choose such a title for yourselves?"

Lelouch sighed as he began playing with a locke of his hair, "I didn't...father said I was embodying the founding ideals of our Empire and we actually were bringing the terrors of the testaments to our enemies doors...Our color scheme didn't really help it would appear ...I...I'm actually rather proud of that fact."

Schneizel shot a glance to Kanon who nodded in return, sighing he sank deeper into his seat before continuing, "And I'm sure you'll do your Empire proud. Though, there is a reason for this meeting as I'm sure you've figured out already. You have developed a rather interesting piece of technology that could help me in my long term work and I was hoping I could acquire it."

Smile dropping Lelouch pulled his legs from the table and sat straight in the chair giving Schneizel an analyzing look, "What do you need of me Prince Schneizel."

The blonde prince kept his wince back but the comment did hurt, he had offended the boy, unwanted but necessary, bridging his fingers together he rested his hands under his nose as he replied.

"The Avalon, while it's armaments aren't really that impressive the lift and shield system _is_ and it could help me with my diplomatic trips, both in speeding them up and-"

Lelouch interrupted him as he nodded slowly, "And impress upon them our technological superiority, correct?"

Schneizel gave him a single nod, Lelouch stared at the ceiling a few moments before sighing, "Big brother really the Avalon's a test bed, I'd feel _bad_ handing it off to you without further testing, not to mention the material and labor costs I've expended manufacturing it."

Expecting this response Kanon slid a tablet computer across the table towards the teenage prince. Quirking an inquisitive brow he picked it up and after a few minutes his eyes widened, "This...you'd be giving me this?"

Schneizel shook his head as he gestured towards the pad, "No it hasn't been built yet, it was honestly going to be nothing more then a showroom piece to test out several new technologies but my engineers have been rather...stymied on some of them, they in fact blew up their lab last week with the cannon's prototype. Since I hear you and Cornelia have Duke Ashford's labs at your beckon call you could develop a command unit for yourself since you seem to enjoy being on the front line."

Still reading the pad he absently muttered, "Don't enjoy it but can't expect people to follow me if I don't take a share of the danger myself...all right...I think I can convince Cornelia to go along with this, the Avalon's actually been done for two months so she's yours I...need to make some calls."

Schneizel smiled amiably and stood to leave, before he opened the door he turned back to his brother, "Oh, I was wondering did you want to have a chess match before you headed back to Area Eleven?"

Breaking his gaze from the tablet Lelouch turned to his brother and gave him a wide grin, "Only if you're ready to finally lose with some grace big brother."

Point three in his favor, Lelouch made Schneizal have to actually try to win.

"Very well, after the ball, say seven?" Nodding absently Lelouch agreed and turned back to the pad, after they left the teen pulled out his cell phone and dialed an international number.

After a time a tired voice spat out, "What?!"

Grimacing the ravenette quickly tried to placate the woman on the other line, "I'm sorry Rakshata I forgot about the time zone difference but I have a toy for you to play with and was wondering if you wanted it now or later?"

The Indian woman was suddenly all business, "What do you have for me Your Highness?"

Grinning he sent out the email as he threw his legs up on the table once again, "A Command Information Center Knightmare with flight capabilities and energy cannons that Britannia can't get working correctly but appears to be right up your alley, Schneizel's techs call it the Gawain, I need you to make it amazing."

The woman remained quiet as she sifted through the data and suddenly manical laughter bellowed from his phone, she eventually calmed down enough to reply.

"Give me a year and access to the Earl of Pudding's data and I'll have this beast ready for you my Prince."

Smirking Lelouch quickly stated, "You had it yesterday, good luck my dear mad scientist."

Clacking the phone close the prince stared at the ceiling for a time before a feral grin broke out across his face, "I wonder if I can put those hadrons on the _Dreadnought_...hmm...I'll probably have to ask the girls if it's ok first..still..."


End file.
